Developing and Testing a Mobile Health Intervention to Promote Sun Protection Behaviors and Skin Examination Among Hispanics.

K99 phase. Develop a culturally-targeted mobile-based skin cancer intervention for Hispanics.

Aim 1: Conduct individual interviews among key stakeholders such as health care providers and community leaders to plan a mobile skin cancer intervention among Hispanics. Data will be collected from individual interviews (n=10-12) among key stakeholders and triangulated with data from a funded pilot grant (focus groups and surveys with Hispanic community members) to gather information regarding Hispanics
perceptions and behaviors related to skin cancer and suggestions for a WhatsApp intervention.

Aim 2: Employing a user-centered approach to develop a WhatsApp intervention to promote skin cancer risk-reduction behaviors among Hispanics and encourage engagement in the intervention. Use an iterative qualitative (focus groups with Hispanics, n=32; individual interviews with key stakeholders e.g., health care providers and community leaders, n=10-12) process to incorporate input from Hispanics and relevant
stakeholders to develop a mobile WhatsApp intervention that is theory- and culturally-guided.

R00 phase. Conduct formative testing and piloting of the intervention.

Aim 3: Evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of this mobile intervention in a single-arm pre-, post-test pilot study among at-risk Hispanics. Hypothesis: More than 80% of the participants (n=40) will complete the intervention at 3-month (intervention completion) and the 6-month follow-up (retention rate as feasibility). More
than 70% of the participants will report high overall study satisfaction (acceptability) with the intervention and study. This pre-pilot will inform intervention and procedural refinements for the pilot.

Aim 4: Refine the intervention and conduct a pilot RCT (n=114) using this mobile program among Hispanics at risk for skin cancer and assess the preliminary effects of the mobile intervention at 3-month (intervention completion) and 6-month follow-up. Hypothesis: Participants who receive the intervention (n=57) will report more skin cancer-related preventive behaviors (e.g., mean of summed score of sun protection behaviors such as use of sunscreen, etc.) at 3-month and 6-month follow-up compared to those in the control
condition (n=57, who will receive general information about physical activity and nutrition).

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