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A Barbershop Intervention to Improve Melanoma Detection in Rural US

Kaden Thomas

Mentor Jeremy Bordeaux, MD, MPH
Award Type Medical Student Award
Institution University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center
Donor Support In honor of Chris Westdyk
Spotting skin cancer early is important, but in rural areas of the US, it’s not always easy. Rural areas have fewer dermatologists and healthcare options, so it can be hard to see a doctor when needed. We hope to help people detect skin cancer by teaching barbers how to spot it. Barbers are important in small towns. They have good relationships with their clients and talk to them regularly. We believe that by showing them a short video about skin cancer, they can get better at spotting it. Our plan is to create a quick 5-minute video using information from the American Academy of Dermatology. We will ask barbers to watch the video and then answer some questions before and after. We hope this will improve their knowledge, confidence, and ability to spot skin cancer. We’re going to do this in six states: Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, and Kentucky. We’ll find barbers in rural areas and ask them to join our study through a phone call. In return, they’ll receive a $20 Amazon gift card, and they’ll have a chance to win $300 in a raffle. Our long term goal is to share this knowledge with barbers all across the United States, especially in rural places. This way, skin cancer is detected earlier and more people can get help if they have skin cancer.