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Quitting the “Cancer Tube”: a qualitative examination of the process of indoor tanning cessation

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Translational Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

This study examined health belief model (HBM) relevant constructs in the context of indoor tanning cessation. Telephone interviews were conducted between December 2011 and April 2012 with participants drawn from the Growing Up Today Study (GUTS) population, specifically, former tanning bed users (N = 14, all females; mean age, 25.65 years) who reported frequent use in 2007, but had quit by 2010. Participants identified important motivations for quitting including health and financial reasons and the central role of family and friends in providing encouragement for indoor tanning cessation. However, participants also noted substantial barriers to maintaining indoor tanning quitting (e.g., social pressures to look good, tanning salon incentives). Participants’ experience of withdrawal highlighted psychological factors more often than physical factors; some were open to resuming use in the future. The findings will be useful in intervention development to encourage cessation, the strengthening of policies to regulate the indoor tanning industry, as well as public health messaging to raise awareness of this prevalent, easily accessible cancer risk behavior.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the National Cancer Institute Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Skin Cancer (Thomas Kupper PI, Brigham and Women’s Hospital).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, 641 Lexington Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY, 10022, USA

    Smita C Banerjee PhD & Jennifer L Hay PhD

  2. Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Alan C Geller MPH, RN

  3. Survey & Data Management Core, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    Joshua J Gagne MA

  4. Pediatrics, Dana-Farber Children’s Cancer Care, Boston, MA, USA

    A Lindsay Frazier MD

Authors
  1. Smita C Banerjee PhD
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  2. Jennifer L Hay PhD
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  3. Alan C Geller MPH, RN
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  4. Joshua J Gagne MA
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  5. A Lindsay Frazier MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Smita C Banerjee PhD.

Additional information

Implications

Practice: “In the light of recent U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendation regarding counseling children, adolescents, and young adults aged 10 to 24 years with fair skin about minimizing their exposure to ultraviolet radiation to reduce risk for skin cancer [1], practitioners should consider addressing the harms of indoor tanning in annual health check-ups with individuals with fair-skin within this age group. This will also aid in identification of individuals (particularly females) for referrals to dermatologists for a complete skin examination.”

Policy: Considering that several states have banned indoor tanning for all minors and many others are attempting to pass similar bans [16], policy makers should focus on strengthening and extending these policies (e.g., restricting number of times per week, banning underage tanning, warning labels outside and inside of indoor tanning parlors, etc.) to further regulate the indoor tanning industry.

Research: Researchers should investigate quantitative correlates of indoor tanning cessation, and develop public health messaging and interventions to increase public (and more specifically, indoor tanners) understanding of heightened short-term, and long-term health risks of indoor tanning.

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Banerjee, S.C., Hay, J.L., Geller, A.C. et al. Quitting the “Cancer Tube”: a qualitative examination of the process of indoor tanning cessation. Behav. Med. Pract. Policy Res. 4, 209–219 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-014-0257-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-014-0257-0

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