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Effects of health beliefs, social support, and self-efficacy on sun protection behaviors among medical students: testing of an extended health belief model

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Abstract

Sun protection behaviors (SPB) are important modifiable risk factors for skin cancer. As the most common malignancies in the world, skin cancers account for significant morbidity, mortality, and economic burden. Physicians play a key role in educating patients about proper SPB. Medical education provides the foundation for physician understanding of SPB and future patient education. The Health Belief Model (HBM) is a theoretical model that offers constructs to help explain health behaviors. This cross-sectional study examined a convenience sample of 186 medical student to assess their engagement in SPB through the lens of the 6 HBM constructs and social support. Overall, we found engagement in SPB among our cohort to be low. About 70.4% report never using wide-brimmed hats and only 44.6% often or always use sunscreen. Hierarchical multiple regressions were performed in three blocks to analyze the relationship between the independent variables (HBM constructs and social support) and dependent variable (SPB) after controlling for the influence of demographic covariates. In our health constructs model, beliefs about susceptibility, benefits minus barriers, and self-efficacy were found to be significant predictors of engaging in SPB. Addition of social support in the final model did not significantly improve prediction of SPB engagement. These findings support use of educational programs based on HBM for the improvement of SPB among medical students.

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No funding was received for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dermatology, School of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 North State Street – L216, Jackson, MS, 39216, USA

    Ross L. Pearlman, Taylor S. Ferris & Vinayak K. Nahar

  2. Ross University School of Medicine, Miramar, FL, USA

    Vaidehi Patel

  3. Substance Use and Mental Health Laboratory, Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA

    Robert E. Davis

  4. Center for Animal and Human Health in Appalachia, College of Veterinary Medicine, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN, USA

    Karen Gruszynski

  5. DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, TN, USA

    Timothy Elledge

  6. Department of Pharmacy Administration, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS, USA

    Kaustuv Bhattacharya

  7. Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine/John D. Bower School of Population Health, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA

    Vinayak K. Nahar

Authors
  1. Ross L. Pearlman
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  2. Vaidehi Patel
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  3. Robert E. Davis
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  4. Taylor S. Ferris
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  5. Karen Gruszynski
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  6. Timothy Elledge
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  7. Kaustuv Bhattacharya
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  8. Vinayak K. Nahar
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Correspondence to Vinayak K. Nahar.

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Pearlman, R.L., Patel, V., Davis, R.E. et al. Effects of health beliefs, social support, and self-efficacy on sun protection behaviors among medical students: testing of an extended health belief model. Arch Dermatol Res 313, 445–452 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-020-02123-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-020-02123-9

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