Sunscreen use and availability among female collegiate athletes.

Background: Each year more than 250,000 athletes participate on National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) teams. The majority of outdoor NCAA athletes, however, do not use sunscreen on a daily basis. Previous research notes that sunscreen availability represents the main barrier to use among collegiate athletes.

Objective: We sought to explore the effect of sunscreen availability on its application among outdoor collegiate athletes.

Methods: Participants (n = 83) on NCAA Division IA female golf teams were randomized to form treatment and control groups. Treatment group players placed study-supplemented sunscreen in their golf bags and locker rooms during the study period. Both groups completed self-administered surveys at the beginning and end of the 4-week investigation.

Results: The athletes for whom sunscreen was placed in the locker room and bags exhibited a statistically greater use of sunscreen at the end of the study compared with the control group (P = .01). Provision of readily available sunscreen in the locker room resulted in an average of 1.13 more days per week of sunscreen use, after adjustment for baseline use (P = .008). In addition, players with ready access to sunscreen during competitions increased their reapplication, although not significantly, by nearly 20% (P = .10). Sunscreen reapplication during practice did not change for either group.

Limitations: Future investigations should target a larger population of both male and female outdoor collegiate athletes.

Conclusions: The application of sunscreen increased significantly when athletes had easy access to sunscreen during practice and competition. These findings highlight a major opportunity to improve sun-protective behaviors among this vulnerable population.