This will be an overview of the Pool Cool program and fi ndings from a study of the diffusion of the Pool Cool program from 2003 - 2006. The publications listed below were based on the first year (1) and the first two years (2) of the diffusion study. 1. Glanz K, Steffen A, Elliott T, O’Riordan D. Diffusion of an effective skin cancer prevention program: Design, theoretical foundations, and fi rst-year implementation. Health Psychology, 24(5): 477-487,2005. Skin cancer is commonly diagnosed in the United States but is easily preventable. The Pool Cool skin cancer prevention program is a multi-component educational and environmental intervention that was systematically developed, pilot tested, and evaluated in a randomized trial. The program had significant positive effects on children’s sun protection behaviors and on sun safety environments at swimming pools and reduced sunburns among lifeguards and aquatic instructors. From 2003 to 2006, the Pool Cool diffusion study was conducted. The main aims of the diffusion study were to evaluate the effects of two strategies for program diffusion on: 1) program implementation, maintenance, and sustainability; 2) improvements in organizational and environmental supports for sun protection at swimming pools; and 3) sun protection habits and sunburns among children. Ancillary aims included examining the predictors of diffusion and the mediating role of lifeguards and aquatic staff as well as investigating the longitudinal patterns of sun protection behaviors over multiple years. The components of the Pool Cool skin cancer prevention program and findings from the Pool Cool diffusion study will be presented and discussed. Dawn Hall is the Project Coordinator of the Pool Cool skin cancer prevention program at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Dawn first became a member of the Pool Cool research team as a graduate student in the fall of 2005. After earning her M.P.H. at Emory in 2007, she accepted a full-time research position within the Behavioral Sciences and Health Education department. Dawn’s primary research focuses on skin cancer prevention in outdoor pool settings, with a particular interest in sun safety among lifeguards and aquatic staff. In the summer of 2007, Dawn coordinated a pilot study evaluating the effectiveness of a targeted, peer driven skin cancer prevention program for lifeguards, and she continues to work with her colleagues to analyze study data, publish findings and make future plans for the Pool Cool program.
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