Health communication scholars have a responsibility to be certain that both healthcare practitioners and government agencies accurately communicate health information to the public. In order to carry out this duty, health communication scholars must assess how messages are being received and if they are being received at all by the public. This paper details a two part study which assesses this phenomenon within the context of skin cancer. Study 1 utilized 29 in depth qualitative interviews to identify subcultures among college students whose communication puts them at risk for skin cancer by encouraging poor sun exposure behaviors. The results indicate that farmers, African Americans, and individuals who regularly participate in outdoor athletics are at risk groups. Study 2 reports a content analysis of the known population of skin cancer Public Service Announcements (PSAs) available via the internet in 2013. The aforementioned groups were not present in any of the PSAs. Detailed results and implications are discussed. 1. Introduction Health communication scholars have a responsibility to be certain that both healthcare practitioners and government agencies communicate health information to the public accurately [1]. In order to carry out this duty, health communication scholars must assess how messages are being received and if they are being received at all by the public. This study explored the sun care behaviors of individuals as they are influenced by health education, family practices, and cultural beliefs. More specifically, the current two part study investigated whether the communication among the subcultures interviewed encourages the formation of high risk/marginalized groups in regard to sun exposure and sun care, and whether these high risk/marginalized groups were targeted in government sponsored healthcare promotion campaigns. High risk/marginalized groups include demographics that “often have difficulty affording or gaining access to healthcare, and they are often targets of discrimination due to the prevalence of ageist, sexist, and racist beliefs in our culture” [2, pages 216-217]. Thus, these groups are historically composed of individuals in the lower socioeconomic class and come from homes with less means to seek out higher education or healthcare. Individuals who have a lower level of education are likely to be less educated about health risks and are less likely to seek out health information [3]. As a result, marginalized groups are composed of the individuals who are least likely to seek out health information and least likely
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