Sunny side, out!: A health communication campaign to promote sun protection habits among Singaporean adolescents

• Main Authors: Ryu, Junita Ji Yeon, Nur Khairiyah Binte Atan, Tan, Damian Jun Hern, Ang, Tracey Xinhui
• Other Authors: Kay (Hye Kyung) Kim
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2024
• Subjects: Social Sciences; Sun protection; Health belief model; Social effect; Public health campaign; Skin cancer; Health communication
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174494
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This report presents the findings of Sunny Side, Out!, a first-of-its-kind health communications campaign designed to promote daily sun protection habits among Singaporean adolescents aged 13 to 17. Singapore experiences alarmingly high ultraviolet (UV) radiation year-round, yet, a majority of Singaporeans do not adopt sun-protection habits (Cheong et al., 2019). Surprisingly, past campaigns largely overlooked adolescents, a demographic with the potential to become lifelong sun-safe advocates. Recognising this gap, the campaign employed a novel, three-pronged approach: weaving elements of gamification, fostering collective peer-driven sun safety, and empowering adolescents through self-efficacy building techniques. The campaign was guided primarily by the Health Belief Model and supplemented with the construct of subjective norms. Formative research was conducted using focus group discussions and a quantitative baseline survey. The findings allowed the team to come up with three primary goals: (1) Educate our TA on the harmful effects of excessive sun exposure and inadequate sun protection; (2) Encourage the uptake of sun protection behaviours amongst our TA as a daily habit and (3) Motivate our TA to engage in collective social behaviours with family and peers. Sunny Side Out! significantly surpassed its goals, generating over 95,262 digital impressions and engaging 4,945 attendees through on-ground outreach events across five secondary schools and two public community events. This remarkable achievement exceeded the campaign's initial reach targets by over 200%. The campaign also had a positive impact on adolescents, achieving a 10% increase in self-efficacy and an 8% increase in sun protection behavioural intention.