Sun protection in newborns. A comparison of educational methods
J. L. Bolognia, M. Berwick, J. A. Fine, P. Simpson and M. Jasmin
Department of Dermatology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn. 06510.
We investigated the effect of education on the sun exposure of newborns.
Mothers of healthy newborns (n = 275) were enrolled in the spring of 1989
and interviewed by telephone in the fall of 1989. The mothers were divided
into a control group, a low-level intervention group, and a high-level
intervention group. Both the low-level and high-level interventions
succeeded in reducing the amount of time the newborns were allowed to spend
in direct sunlight. Both types of intervention also resulted in reduced sun
exposure time for the mothers. Although the number of mothers who used
sunscreen was approximately the same in all three groups, when sunscreen
use was controlled for, the intervention groups spent significantly less
unprotected time in the sun than the control group. The mothers and
newborns in both intervention groups simply spent less time outdoors.
