Oral Presentation Skin Cancer 2024

Comparison of two scalability methods for nationwide dissemination of an occupational sun protection intervention in a randomized trial (#57)

David B Buller 1 , Julia Berteletti 1 , Mary K Buller 1 , Kimberly L Henry 2 , Richard Meenan 3 , Gary R Cutter 4 , Alishia Kinsey 1 , Irene Adjei 1 , Noah Chirico 1
  1. Klein Buendel, Inc., Golden, CO, United States
  2. Psychology, Colorado State University, Ft Collins, Colorado, USA
  3. Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research, Portland, OR, USA
  4. University of Alabama Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

The promise of sun protection interventions relies on successfully disseminating them to new populations and settings with sufficient fidelity to be effective. Two methods for disseminating our evidence-based occupational sun protection intervention, Go Sun Smart at Work, were evaluated. Regional districts (n=138) from state Departments of Transportation (n=21) throughout the United States were randomized to two scalability methods in a randomized pretest-posttest two-group design. The in-person scalability method included in-person visits to the workplaces to meet with managers and deliver training to employees. The digital scalability method utilized low-cost virtual communication with managers and video training for employees. At posttest, managers (n=255) reported their program implementation actions while employees (n=1387) reported receipt of sun safety training/communication and protection practices. Nearly all managers reported implementing training, communication, and sun protection actions (>80.0%), but implementation did not differ by scalability method (training/communication: b=0.050, p=0.50; other actions: b=0.017, p=0.88). However, more employees reported sun protection training (b=0.381, p=0.02) and communication (b=0.112, p=0.049) from in-person than digital scalability method. Employee sun protection practices were unrelated to scalability method (protection practices: b=0.055, p=0.25). Both scalability strategies motivated managers to implement sun safety training and communication, and more than other sun safety actions, possibly because training/communication fit into existing safety training processes and communication channels and required few resources. In-person training is preferred by many workers and technological barriers may have interfered with digital training delivery. Restrictions placed on the workplaces due to the COVID-19 pandemic interfered with scalability, possibly biasing the result towards the null.