DO PEDIATRICIANS COUNSEL FAMILIES ABOUT SUN PROTECTION - A MASSACHUSETTS SURVEY

Background: Pediatric visits during summer months may be especially op portune times for sun protection counseling for children and their par ents. Few data exist on the extent of such counseling. Objective: To b egin to assess this, we surveyed practicing Massachusetts pediatrician s to examine current attitudes and practices of sun protection counsel ing. Design and Setting: Surveys mailed to Massachusetts pediatricians . Results: We received surveys from 756 (60%) of 1263 eligible Massach usetts pediatricians. Almost 70% indicated that they recommended safe sun practices to more than 50% of their patients and their parents dur ing the summer months. Counseling regarding seat belt use, bicycle hel met use, and smoking prevention were ranked higher in priority than su n protection counseling by pediatricians: nutritional guidelines were noted by pediatricians to be a parent's most frequent concern. Four va riables were independently associated with a practitioner's providing safe sun recommendations to more than 50% of parents and children: (1) private setting and health maintenance organization practitioners as opposed to academic physicians, (2) high ranking of patients' safe sun knowledge, (3) high priorities of both parents and physicians for sun protection counseling and parental knowledge of safe sun practices re lative to other recommendations, and (4) pediatrician interest in rece iving instructional materials. Conclusions: For the most part, summer sun protection counseling among Massachusetts tts pediatricians seems well integrated into standard practice. Most pediatricians rated their confidence level as high for discussing sun protection and only a few cited inadequate training or poor reimbursement as barriers toward im proved counseling. Small steps, such as providing more instructional m aterials to patients and using office-based reminder systems, may impr ove the quality of sun protection counseling practices. Incorporating sunburn prevention into the list of routinely recommended injury preve ntion guidelines for pediatricians should be considered.