Deceptive well being content material on social media is the order of the day. Within the final two years, viral tendencies have unfold that promote harmful practices and misinform regarding solar safety. instance are burn tattoos which are made by exposing a small space of the pores and skin to the solar’s rays to create a burn, for instance, within the form of a coronary heart.
The newest hoax concerning the spring-summer season has emerged on TikTok, the community used particularly by youthful folks, beneath the hashtag #healthytan. This development encourages folks to reveal themselves to the solar with out safety to extend the pores and skin’s tolerance and get the so-called “solar callus”, which might enable a hypothetical wholesome tan with out burns.
Like so many different scams, this argument is just not supported by scientific proof. Though culturally we’re used to linking tanning with a wholesome and flattering look, nothing might be farther from the reality.
As Magdalena de Troya, head of the Dermatology Service on the Costa del Sol Hospital, explains, “tanning shouldn’t be interpreted beneath any circumstances as one thing wholesome. “It’s a protection mechanism of the pores and skin in opposition to ultraviolet radiation and an indication of DNA harm.”
Subsequently, intentional publicity with out safety doesn’t enable the event of tolerance to the solar or “solar callus” within the medium and long run. Quite the opposite, it will increase harm to the dermis, together with the chance of creating melanoma or different varieties of pores and skin most cancers.
Excessive monitoring in networks, low prevention in opposition to burns
The Spanish Comunicancer mission is the primary multidisciplinary examine that addresses communication regarding most cancers, focusing particularly on solar photoprotection amongst younger Spaniards. It has been carried out along with the Ramón y Cajal Hospital, in Madrid, and the Costa del Sol Hospital, in Málaga.
The mission has empirically confirmed that well being specialists face a really advanced situation in social networks. Right here, not solely is there an absence of full data on the assorted dimensions of pores and skin most cancers, its prevention and coverings, but additionally the networks are a breeding floor for the dissemination of inaccurate and deceptive details regarding this matter.
Younger folks learn extra details regarding tanning than regarding prevention on social networks: three out of 4 discover out concerning the former on Instagram, adopted by TikTok and Twitter.
Moreover, the outcomes of the Comunicancer epidemiological examine reveal that eight out of ten college college students have suffered sunburn throughout the previous 12 months, which considerably will increase the chance of contracting pores and skin most cancers.
Ainara Soria, oncologist on the Ramón y Cajal Hospital, warns that “the pores and skin has reminiscence and every burn multiplies the chance of affected by melanoma or different varieties of pores and skin most cancers sooner or later.”
A communication mannequin that predicts sunburn
Comunicancer has developed a statistical system that relates the variables of the Well being Perception Mannequin (a mannequin of health-related behaviors that has regained significance within the final three years) with sunburns. This makes it attainable to foretell danger behaviors and establish younger folks most prone to adopting behaviors opposite to solar safety.
The Well being Perception Mannequin highlights that perceived susceptibility – believing that one can contract the illness – is, together with the notion of boundaries and stimuli to behave, the principle set off for preventive actions. Comunicancer’s outcomes hyperlink HBM to the sunburn indicator for the primary time.
By understanding the motivations behind behaviors, efficient interventions might be designed to lower danger behaviors in relation to pores and skin most cancers. Our findings enable us to foretell danger behaviors and establish younger folks most prone to adopting unhealthy behaviors relating to solar safety to design simpler prevention campaigns.
Ángeles Moreno Fernández, Professor and researcher on the URJC Superior Research Group in Communication. President European Public Relations Analysis and Schooling Affiliation, King Juan Carlos College and Cristina Fuentes Lara, Contracted Professor of Communication, King Juan Carlos College
This text was initially printed on The Dialog. Learn the unique.
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