Response Across the Health-Literacy Spectrum of Kidney Transplant Recipients to a Sun-Protection Education Program Delivered on Tablet Computers: Randomized Controlled Trial.
Robinson JK, Friedewald JJ, et al.JMIR Cancer 2015; 1(2): e8.
Aims
To evaluate the impact of a culturally sensitive sun-protection program (SunProtect) on knowledge, intentions to use sun protection, and use of sun protection among racially/ethnically diverse kidney transplant recipients.
Interventions
Participants were randomized to receive either the educational sun-protection program SunProtect, or receive general skin care information.
Participants
62 non-Hispanic white, 60 non-Hispanic black, and 48 Hispanic/Latino recipients of a kidney transplant within the past 2-24 months, aged between 18-70 years living in the greater Chicago area who spoke and read English or Spanish, and could see well enough to read a newspaper.
Outcomes
Measured outcomes included knowledge, recognising personal skin cancer risk, willingness to change sun protection, use of sun protection, daily hours outdoors, health literacy and evaluation of the health program including useability, use and satisfaction.
Follow-up
2 weeks
CET Conclusions
SunProtect is an educational software programme directed at the risk of skin cancer after renal transplantation and methods of protection, devised for patients with lower health literacy from ethnically diverse backgrounds. In this pilot research patients between 2 and 24 months after a kidney transplant were randomised either to take the educational programme on a tablet while waiting to see their transplant nephrologist or to receive normal skin care information. The software was available in English or Spanish and the groups studied comprised 62 non-Hispanic white, 60 non-Hispanic black and 48 Hispanic/Latino transplant recipients. Two weeks after taking the programme the recipients were assessed for their knowledge of skin cancer risks and what protective steps they were taking. In general health literacy was improved in all groups as were protective actions (avoidance of sun, sun block use and protective clothing e.g. hats) but with significant differences between groups. Thus, this tablet programme may be very useful in providing the knowledge which will result in a decreased incidence of skin cancer in transplant recipients. However, the weakness of this study is that the follow up was just 2 weeks after exposure to the SunProtect programme and so there is no information as to the influence of this knowledge on protection in the longer term. One would hope that longer term assessment will be performed and I would also like to see the programme tested in Australia where the risk of skin cancer is so high.
Data analysis
Available case analysis
Trial registration
ClinicalTrials.gov - NCT01646099