Humour and alarmism in melanoma prevention: a randomized controlled study of three types of information leaflet

Effectiveness of melanoma prevention depends on how it is accepted by the p opulation, Humour and alarmism are often used in campaigns, but no informat ion is available about how much they may improve or limit the impact of a c ampaign. Three different leaflets containing the same information about sun exposure and skin cancers were developed using three different tones of pr esentation: humoristic (H-leaflet), alarmist (A-leaflet) or neutral informa tion (N-leaflet). In this randomized controlled study, each type of leaflet was mailed to a sample of 300 subjects representative of the sociodemograp hic population of the South of France. A fourth sample to whom no leaflet w as sent was used as a control. Fifteen days after the mailing, the 1200 ind ividuals were interviewed by phone. Four hundred and forty-four of the 900 who received the mail read the leaflet. The percentage of individuals with a good awareness of melanoma was higher in leaflet groups than in controls. The percentage of individuals who read a leaflet was lower in the A-leafle t group and the percentage of individuals knowing what a melanoma is tended to be lower in the H-leaflet group, There was no significant difference be tween groups with regard to ability for self-assessment of skin sun sensiti vity, risk factors and sun exposure. The tone of presentation seems to have a limited impact on the effect of a campaign, but alarmism tends to reduce the number of people reached by the message whereas humour tends to decrea se the impact of the message.