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Our overall research program goals are to develop, evaluate, and disseminate innovative interventions to prevent and control cancer morbidity and mortality. Our current focus is on primary prevention of skin cancer, the most common form of human malignancy. We are conducting an intervention trial with college students, who as adolescents and young adults, tend to put themselves at risk for later skin cancer by exposing themselves to high levels of ultraviolet radiation (UV) and protecting their skin minimally. The current trial is testing several intervention approaches: 1) UV-filtered photos; 2) motivational interviewing counseling; and 3) education about UV-related skin damage. UV-filtered photos show facial skin damage due to UV exposure not visible to the naked eye. The use of personalized UV-filtered photos showing the effects of UV exposure on appearance may help to make skin cancer risk factors more salient to young people. Motivational interviewing is a behavioral counseling approach that has been successfully used for addiction treatment and is now being used as an effective intervention for other risky health behaviors. College students are being followed over the course of a year to evaluate the impact of the interventions on self-reported exposure and protective behaviors such as tanning and sunscreen use and on objective changes in skin color as measured by skin reflectance spectrophotometry. If these interventions are successful, our goal is to find ways to disseminate them to other settings and populations such as primary care clinics and high schools in order to help reduce cancer risk more broadly within the community.

1. Daniel LC, Heckman CJ, Kloss JD, Manne SL. Comparing Alternate Methods for Measuring Skin Damage. Cancer Causes and Control. Epub Oct 2008.
2. Heckman CJ, Egleston, BL, Wilson, DB, Ingersoll KS. A Preliminary Exploration of Predictors of Tanning Dependence. American Journal of Health Behavior. Sept/Oct 2008;32(5):451-64.
3. Heckman CJ, Coups EJ, Manne SL. Prevalence and Correlates of Indoor Tanning among U.S. Adults. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. May 2008;58(5):769-80. PubMed
4. Lazovich D, Stryker JE, Mayer J, Hillhouse J, Dennis LK, Pichon L, Pagoto S, Heckman CJ, Olson A, Cokknides V, Thompson K. Measuring non-solar tanning behavior: Indoor and sunless tanning. Archives of Dermatology. Feb 2008;144(2):225-230.
5. Glanz K, Yaroch YL, Dancel M, Saraiya M, Crane LA, Buller DB, Manne SL, O’Riordan DL, Heckman CJ, Hay J, Robinson JK. Measures of Sun Exposure and Sun Protection Practices for Behavioral and Epidemiologic Research. Archives of Dermatology. Feb 2008;144(2):217-222. PubMed
6. Coups EJ, Manne SL, Heckman CJ. Multiple skin cancer risk behaviors in the U.S. population. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Feb 2008;34(2):87–93. PubMed
7. Ingersoll KS, Cropsey KL, Heckman CJ. Motivational Interviewing plus Nicotine Replacement Interventions for HIV+ Smokers. AIDS and Behavior. Epub Dec 2007. PubMed
8. Wilson DB, McClish DK, Heckman CJ, Obando CP, Dahman BA, Fries EA. Parental Smoking Moderates the Protective Effect of “Closeness to Parents” in Predicting Youth Smoking. American Journal of Health Behavior. May 2007;31(3):261-271.