Guidelines for the development of social marketing programmes for sun protection among adolescents and young adults

To formulate 'best practice' guidelines for social marketing programmes for adolescents' and young adults' sun protection.

A Delphi consensus process.

Eleven experts in sun protection and social marketing participated in a Delphi consensus process, where they were asked to provide up to 10 key points, based on their knowledge and practical experience, which they felt were most important in developing social marketing interventions for the primary prevention of skin cancer among adolescents and young adults. After reaching consensus, the evidence base for each guideline was determined and graded via the Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network grading system. Participants were then asked to indicate how strongly they rated the finalized 15 recommendations based on all aspects relating to their knowledge and practical opinion, as well as the research evidence, on a visual analogue scale.

The resultant 15 guidelines offer general principles for sun protection interventions utilizing a social marketing approach.

This method of guideline development brought the expertise of practitioners to the forefront of guideline development, whilst still utilizing established methods of evidence confirmation. It thus offers a useful method for guideline development in a public health context.