Sun Safe Workplaces: Assessment of Benefits and Costs of a Policy Intervention (SSW2)

Klein Buendel

Status: Completed

Conditions: Skin Cancer

Treatments: Behavioral: Sun Safe Workplaces Program; Behavioral: Attention Control

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; Industry; NIH

Identifiers

NCT03281161

0284 (Other Identifier)

5R01CA187191-02 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

Sun Safe Workplaces (SSW), a comprehensive occupational sun safety program, promoted education and policy to 98 cities, counties, and special districts in Colorado. In a two-year follow-up study, Klein Buendel, Inc. (KB) proposes to examine the effectiveness of SSW on employee sun protection practices by employers and return on investment in an economic evaluation of the cost of the SSW intervention. The results of this follow-up study will provide critical information on effective approaches to increasing sun protection across a wide range of employment sectors with outdoor workers.

Full description

Workers in the United States spend large amounts of time on the job, making the workplace a key venue for preventive health programs. A workplace risk that has received limited attention is solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR). Unprotected exposure to solar UVR of outdoor workers can produce both an immediate acute harm (i.e., severe sunburn) and long-term skin damage that can elevate the risk of developing skin cancers. Preventing skin cancer is a priority due to its high prevalence; tendency to recur; association with other cancers; and lost productivity ($66.9 billion in losses were attributed to melanoma-related mortality from 1990-2008). Sun Safe Workplaces (SSW) is a comprehensive occupational sun safety education and policy intervention that was tested by Klein Buendel, Inc.'s (KB) research team in a randomized control trial with 98 cities, counties, and special districts in Colorado. Posttesting was completed in November 2013. The SSW intervention focused on three sectors in the organizations: public works, public safety, and parks and recreation. Half of the employers received the SSW intervention, with the remaining employers in the control condition receiving basic sun safety information. Preliminary analyses indicate that 80% of employers in the SSW intervention condition provided sun safety education to employees and 36% adopted formal sun protection policies. No control organizations reported policy adoption. KB will conduct a two-year follow-up study on the benefits of the SSW intervention (i.e., increasing employees' sun protection) and return on investment (ROI; benefits relative to intervention costs). Employee behavior was not assessed in the current SSW trial because it was uncertain whether the SSW intervention would result in uptake of education and policy and thus have the potential to influence their sun protection practices. The proposed two-year follow-up of the 98 organizations in the SSW trial will include: (1) surveys with employees (n=10,787) and front line supervisors (n=767) to assess employees' sun protection practices and workplace actions to support employee sun safety; (2) on-site observations of sun protection actions by the employers (e.g., posters, sunscreen, shade structures); and (3) tracking of the costs of implementing the SSW intervention and induced employer costs. The proposed analyses will compare the sun protection practices of employees a) between workplaces that received the SSW intervention and controls and b) among workplaces that provided education and adopted policy, provided education only, and control workplaces. Analyses will determine if the extent of sun protection actions by employers influences employees' sun safety practices. The economic evaluation will estimate the ROI (i.e., comparison of the estimated program benefits to combined cost elements). The proposed study is significant and innovative because it provides critical information applicable to a wide range of industrial sectors with outdoor workers on a workplace risk that has received scant attention. Determining the effectiveness and ROI of prevention programs is essential for national and local resource investment.

Enrollment: 1,990 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Participation in the prior Sun Safe Workplaces: A Campaign on Sun Protection Policies for Outdoor Workers.
• A local government organization with employees who worked outdoors in at least one of the following service areas: public works, public safety, and parks and recreation,
• Having a full time executive
• Having a population of at least 3000 residents
• Being employed at a participating local government organization as a manager or employee?
• Being employed at a participating local government organization in a job requiring outdoor work at least part of the time.

Exclusion criteria

• Organization had participated in the authors' previous occupational sun protection project.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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1,990 participants in 2 patient groups

Sun Safe Workplaces Program

Experimental group

Description:

A follow up to the previous study that promoted the adoption of occupational sun protection policies by the local government organization comprised of personal visits with senior managers to promote policy adoption, promotional materials for sun safety, and in-person training of outdoor workers by research staff over two years. The follow up program consists of an analysis of sun safe practices by employees and an economic evaluation of the SSW intervention completed 2 years after the initial intervention.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Sun Safe Workplaces Program

Attention Control

Active Comparator group

Description:

A follow up to the previous study that promoted occupational sun protection practices by employees in local government organizations through two mailings containing educational materials and presentations at state professional meetings by project staff. The follow up program consists of an analysis of sun safe practices by employees and an economic evaluation of SSW completed 2 years after the initial program contact.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Attention Control