Researchers wanted to know if there were differences between types of sunscreen use promotion. They wanted to know whether or not a motivational intervention was better or worse than a motivational plus planning intervention in increasing sunscreen use among women. Participants were recruited through announcements placed on university websites, blogs, and discussion forums worldwide. The intervention was available in English, German, Portuguese, and Romanian. Two hundred five women from the age of 18 to 66 years (average age of 25 years) gave their consent to participate in the study and were sent an online questionnaire about their sun protection habits. Each participant was randomized into one of three groups (control, motivational, and planning) using a computer-assisted, random number generator upon logging in to the website. Women in the control group were given information about their skin type. Women in the motivational intervention were given information about risks associated with sun exposure and the benefits of sunscreen use. Women in the planning intervention were also given information about the risk of sun exposure, the benefits of sunscreen use, and also were asked to generate an action and coping plan. All participants were assessed on their sunscreen use two more times before data were analyzed. The study found that only women who were in the planning intervention increased their sunscreen use, meaning that future interventions should not rely solely on motivating people about the risks of poor health behaviors and the benefits of good health behaviors.

Questions:

1. What was the research question of this evaluation study?

2. What type of evaluation(s) were utilized in this study?

3. How were participants assigned? What kind of research design was this?

4. What was the independent variable(s)? What was the dependent/outcome variable(s)?