Sunscreen use and availability among female collegiate athletes

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.