Indoor Tanning: When Women Reflect on Reasons They Tan, Tanning Bed Use Decreases, Rutgers Study Finds

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Behavior study, Behavioral Health, Cancer Research, Health Psychology, Indoor Tanning, Psychology, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Rutgers Research

A Rutgers study of 186 women at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey examined the impact of a website intervention to discourage indoor tanning behavior. The study, which appears in the current online issue of Health Psychology, was unique because it didn’t lecture the women on the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation – researchers assumed users were already aware of the dangers – but rather on the mindset surrounding tanning.

“We’re trying to encourage tanners to think about their tanning and why they’re doing it,” said lead author Jerod L. Stapleton, behavioral scientist at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and assistant professor of medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

The research found that women who viewed the website were more likely to stop using tanning beds compared to women not asked to reflect on their behavior.

Read the full story here.