Sun Exposure and Skin Cancer: An Examination of Communications for Prevention on Instagram in a High-Risk Context

Resumen

Young people are increasingly affected by skin cancer in industrialized countries around the world, such as Spain, in
Europe. The incidence of skin cancer is expected to continue to increase in the coming years if adequate
photoprotection habits are not implemented. Social media have been previously studied as a tool with great potential
for skin cancer awareness and prevention in the young population (Falzone et al., 2017), so it is necessary to know and
deepen the communication in these media to contribute to prevention. This paper explores these aspects in the context
of the high prevalence of skin cancer in Spain. It aims to analyze the content of strategic communication of primary
prevention or photoprevention disseminated on Instagram –the social media most used by young people (IAB Spain,
2023)– through the agenda-setting theory and the health belief model. As a result of the analysis of publications issued
during the prevention campaign season in 2022, data were obtained regarding the first-level agenda, with a prevalence
of content on photoprotection (40.9%), and the second-level agenda, with a majority framing focused on the causes of
skin cancer (58.1%). Likewise, the publications showed a low frequency of the health belief model elements related to
skin cancer prevention, except for the action signal (49.5%).