Hats on Head Start: A A Survey of Sun Protection Behaviors in Head Start and Other Early Childhood Education Programs

The study aims are:

• To assess current exposure to sun and UV in programs of children participating in an early childhood educational program.
• To assess current policies regarding sun protection and sunscreen use in programs for early childhood education.
• To assess the current attitudes towards sun safety among caregivers and teachers in programs for early childhood education.
• To explore association of sun protective behaviors with risk factors such as socioeconomic status, per student classroom budget, program setting (i.e. urban, suburban, or rural), race/ethnicity, size of school program, school budget for supplies, and ages of children enrolled in program.

The sample of stakeholders, who will be surveyed, is consistent with samples used in our prior research. A sample size of 250 phone interviews will be adequate to show trends in sun safety policies among early education programs. Power analysis is based on the use of sun protection, our primary outcome. Our preliminary data show that 15% of schools almost always or always schedule outdoor activities to avoid times when the sun was at peak intensity. The sample size required to sensitively detect a 20% difference in using sun protection between those that comply with recommendations and those that do not is 250 respondents assuming an alpha < 0.05 and power >= 0.8 in a two-tailed test on a two-group sample. This sample size will adequately power the study for detecting 30% difference in sun protection use between the two groups.

Inclusion criteria

• Someone 18 years of age and older, who is a teacher, administrator, aide, or other staff member of a Head Start program, day care program, camp, or elementary school.
• Participants agree to a structured phone interview regarding their program's policies for sun safety, their opinions on certain health behaviors, and the demographics of their student population.
• Participants will be interviewed on the phone and guided through a questionnaire which should take approximately 10 minutes to complete.

Exclusion criteria

• Participants who do not know their program's procedures for sun protection will not be able to participate, but may transfer the phone call to another colleague who can answer the questions accurately. Participants without the ability to speak in English will be excluded from the study.