Ninety percent of lung cancers in the US occur among smokers . Five-year survival rates for lung cancer in the US are poor at approximately 16%. Unlike other cancers, for which survival has improved in recent years, survival rates for patients with advanced lung cancers have remained low . Developing an effective and feasible system for lung cancer risk assessment, particularly among smokers, is a high priority. In addition, motivating smokers to seek assessment, quit smoking, and engage in other preventive and treatment strategies could have a major impact on lung cancer prevention, incidence, and survival. Testing feasible and inexpensive risk assessment strategies to help stratify risk in order to guide prevention, surveillance, screening, and treatment is desirable. Better risk assessment of smokers could result in reduced morbidity and mortality. One high risk population is lung cancer patients’ family members. The diagnosis of a loved one is a “teachable moment” in terms of understanding cancer risk and initiating preventive behaviors such as smoking cessation. A number of studies have utilized personalized health feedback to motivate health behavior changes including smoking cessation. Providing such personalized feedback around the time that a family member is diagnosed with lung cancer could help increase motivation to quit smoking. The proposed study would begin to develop and evaluate a comprehensive, yet feasible and inexpensive lung cancer risk assessment program and personalized feedback intervention to increase smoking cessation among smokers who are family members of lung cancer patients.Top

Skin cancer, the most common human malignancy, is associated with ultraviolet radiation (UVR), particularly when exposure is from artificial sources. Tanning beds emit more UVR over a shorter period of time than sunbathing, greatly increasing the risk for the development of skin cancers. While most skin cancers are not fatal, they are common, costly, and can have devastating effects on health and appearance. Little research has been conducted on indoor tanning despite its stronger association with skin cancer than sunbathing, particularly among young women. Studies have typically involved very brief surveys or interviews that have not explored the issues in an in-depth manner or investigated relationships between indoor tanning and psychological and addictive symptoms. Prior studies have provided rates and correlates of tanning booth use but have focused primarily on young adolescents. However, up to one half of young adult women may be indoor tanners. The specific aims of the proposed project are to: (1) evaluate motivations for indoor tanning and identify motivational profiles of different subgroups of young adult females and (2) evaluate whether similar associations and profiles hold for sunbathing and inverse relationships exist for skin protective behavior such as sunscreen use. The study design involves a detailed survey and structured clinical interview to explore the appearance, affective, and addictive motivations of indoor tanning and delineate psychological profiles of young adult women at high risk for skin damage and potential skin cancer. As suggested by the literature, we anticipate being able to identify subgroups of young adult females who are qualitatively different from one another in terms of correlates of indoor tanning. Young women often tan indoors despite knowledge of the health hazards; therefore, their potentially complex motivations need to be further investigated. Based on the results of this study, we plan to design and test a novel intervention that addresses relevant psychological and addictive problems among young adult female indoor tanners. Top