Dr. Lori Crane is Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
Dr. Crane has a bachelor’s degree in pharmacology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She received her MPH in Behavioral Sciences and Health Education at the UCLA School of Public Health, where she also earned her PhD in the same field. Dr. Crane joined the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics at the University of Colorado Denver in 1996, and when this department became the lead partner for the Colorado School of Public Health in 2008, she became the Chair of the Department of Community and Behavioral Health.
Dr. Crane’s main research interest is in cancer prevention. She has researched and created programs related to cervical, breast, colon and prostate cancer screening behaviors. For past 20 years, she has been focusing primarily on skin cancer prevention, with the development and evaluation of programs to prevent over-exposure to the sun for infants, young children, adolescents and young adults. She has a long term grant from the National Cancer Institute in which she is studying risk factors for mole development, which is the number one risk factor for melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer. She also is leading a study funded by the CDC that is examining the influences of advertising, policies, and availability of tanning facilities on indoor tanning among young adults.
Dr. Crane is an expert in survey methodology and program evaluation, and has taught courses in program planning and implementation, survey research, program evaluation, and the theoretical foundations of health promotion.
Questions & Answers
This program can be used for many populations meeting the age recommendation (children age 6-9 and their parents). However, it does assume that the audience has reading skills, so it would not be appropriate for a low literate audience. It is most relevant for populations that are at increased risk for skin cancer. Non-Hispanic white populations are at the highest risk, although skin cancer can occur in any racial group, and the intervention addresses this issue. The program can be adapted visually, such as including pictures that relate to the target population. Personal stories in newsletters should be locally adapted. The current stories include Colorado families.
The intervention can be easily disseminated by mail, email or internet to participants. Large and spread out populations can be easily reached, since it includes only written materials and supplemental resources such as hats and sunscreen. The intervention does not require much staff time to implement. Program “impact” has been defined multiple ways, but one of those ways is: Reach x Efficacy = Impact. We were striving for high reach so the program could have high impact.
We have developed a survey that can be used to assess changes in sun protection behaviors, as well as so-called “moderators” of these changes, including self-efficacy, risk perceptions, perceived barriers, perceived social norms, etc.
I continue to work in the area of skin cancer prevention. The cohort that was involved in the Colorado Kids Sun Care Program has been followed for an additional five years to look at risk factors for skin cancer, most prominently the development of nevi (moles) on the skin, which is the main risk factor for melanoma of the skin. We have identified some interesting relationships between nevus development and factors including waterside vacations, daily sun exposure, use of sun protection, and genetic factors. I recently completed a study looking at environmental influences on indoor tanning behavior in young adults, including advertising, pricing, availability of tanning facilities in apartment complexes and gyms, legislation and enforcement, and other environmental factors.