Evaluating optimal methods for UV-risk assessment

描述(由申请人提供)：皮肤癌危险因素的知识和随后的预防干预措施的成功显然取决于对紫外线危险行为的评估的准确性，例如故意辐射暴露和防护。皮肤癌文献中的绝大多数研究依赖于对其紫外线风险结果因素的未经验证的、单一项目的全球回顾性测量。有大量文献记载了追溯性措施可能出现的严重错误和系统性偏差。有初步数据表明，对紫外线危险行为的电子在线日记评估避免了与回溯性措施相关的许多偏差和错误。然而，与全球衡量标准相比，电子日记评估成本更高，受访者更难接受，这使得它们对许多研究项目来说是有问题的。这项建议旨在检查常用的单项紫外线暴露行为回溯性评估的可靠性和有效性，使用电子日记测量作为标准变量。它还建议比较综合追溯指数和单项测量的准确性，并评估客观肤色测量与每日紫外线暴露报告的关系。这项研究将招募200名参与者。目标肤色测量将在冬季进行，然后在一个夏天的开始和结束时进行。参与者还将使用日常电子在线日记记录他们在同一个夏天的紫外线危险行为。在夏季结束时，参与者将完成一份使用各种全球追溯措施评估紫外线危险行为的问卷。日记数据将用于验证全球衡量标准，并比较它们的相对准确性。日记数据也将被用来探索肤色变化的动态。如果成功，这项建议将显著改善皮肤癌预防文献中对紫外线风险行为的评估。公共卫生相关性：这项研究将提高准确测量导致皮肤癌发生的行为的能力。皮肤癌相关行为测量的这一改进应该会改善预防工作，并导致未来皮肤癌的预防。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Knowledge of skin cancer risk factors and the subsequent success of prevention interventions clearly depends upon the accuracy of the assessment of UV-risk behaviors, such as intentional radiation exposure and protection. The vast majority of studies in the skin cancer literature rely on un-validated, single-item global retrospective measurements of their UV-risk outcome factors. There is an extensive literature documenting the potentially serious errors and systematic biases to which retrospective measures are subject to. There is preliminary data that indicates that electronic online diary assessments of UV-risk behaviors avoid many of the biases and errors associated with retrospective measures. However, electronic diary assessments are more expensive and less acceptable to respondents than global measures, making them problematic for many research projects. This proposal aims to examine the reliability and validity of commonly used single-item retrospective assessments of UV exposure behavior using electronic diary measures as criterion variables. It also proposes to compare the accuracy of a composite retrospective index to the single-item measures, and evaluate the relationship of objective skin color measures to daily UV exposure reports. Two-hundred participants will be recruited for this study. Objective skin color measures will be taken during the wintertime, and then at the beginning and end of one summer. Participants will also record their UV-risk behaviors during this same summer using daily electronic online diaries. At the end of summer, participants will complete a questionnaire which assesses UV-risk behaviors using a variety of global retrospective measures. Diary data will be used to validate the global measures, and compare their relative accuracy. Diary data will also be used to explore the dynamics of skin color change. If successful, this proposal will significantly improve the assessment of UV-risk behavior in the skin cancer prevention literature. Public Health Relevance: This research will improve the ability to accurately measure behaviors that lead to skin cancer development. This improvement in the measurement of skin cancer related behaviors should improve prevention efforts and lead to the prevention of future skin cancer.