GOODBYE SUNSHINE - EFFECTS OF A TELEVISION PROGRAM ABOUT MELANOMA ON BELIEFS, BEHAVIOR, AND MELANOMA THICKNESS

Of 333 persons interviewed after a television show about the effects of melanoma, 113 (34%) saw the show and 73% believed that the sun protection/skin examination message applied to them. Fifty-six percent of persons examined their own skin and 36% examined someone else's skin after seeing the program. Fifteen persons (4.5% of the total sample) planned to visit a doctor for an abnormal skin spot as a result of the program, of whom three actually did so within 4 weeks of the show. An increase of 167% was observed in the number of melanomas diagnosed in the 3 months after the show, compared with those diagnosed in the same period the year before. There was a significant shift in the proportion of tumors removed in the thin, easily cured stage. The high rate of diagnosis of new tumors and the high proportion of thin tumors was maintained a year after the program. By extrapolation from these figures, it is estimated that 208,000 Victorians out of a total population of 4.1 million intended to seek a consultation after a single television program. Of these, it is estimated that about 27,000 actually sought attention in the month after the viewing.