Students' experiences of a facial morphing intervention designed to encourage safer drinking.

Objective: The study was designed to investigate women's experiences of an age-appearance, facial-ageing, morphing intervention to show the effect of alcohol consumption on their skin. Design: Seventeen women aged 19-32 took part in the study, using individual sessions where they viewed the intervention. Main Outcome Measures: Participants were recorded during their viewing of the facial-ageing software, and the recordings of the sessions were then transcribed. Results: Transcripts were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. The women were shocked about the possible impact of alcohol consumption on their skin and appearance, and all of the women stated that the intervention had made them think about changing their alcohol consumption behaviours in the future, after viewing the images of themselves which were morphed to show the effects of both moderate and excessive alcohol consumption. Conclusion: The results are discussed in relation to suggestions for interventions aimed at women. It is concluded that appearance-based interventions do have a role to play with regards to alcohol consumption interventions.

Appearance-based interventions to reduce UV exposure: A systematic review.

PURPOSE: As a majority of skin cancer cases are behaviourally preventable, it is crucial to develop effective strategies to reduce UV exposure. Health-focused interventions have not proved to be sufficiently effective, and it has been suggested that people might be more susceptible to information about the negative effects of the sun on their appearance. METHOD: This systematic review of 30 separate papers, reporting 33 individual studies published between 2005 and 2017, assesses the overall effectiveness of appearance interventions on participants' UV exposure and sun protection behaviour. RESULTS: Appearance-based interventions have positive effects on sun exposure and sun protection, immediately after the intervention as well as up to 12 months afterwards. The meta-analysis found a medium effect size on sun protection intentions for interventions which combined UV photography and photoageing information: r+  = .424; k = 3, N = 319, CI = 0.279-0.568, p = .023. CONCLUSIONS: This review provides a current perspective on the effectiveness of appearance-based interventions to reduce UV exposure, and also highlights methodological issues. It recommends that practitioners administer a UV photo intervention in combination with photoageing information to reduce UV exposure. Furthermore, the review specifically recommends that future research focuses on the use of theoretical constructs to enhance photoageing information and is conducted with older participants and in countries where people have less opportunity for sun exposure. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Appearance-focused interventions may in some cases be more effective than health-focused interventions in reducing UV exposure, as the underlying motivations for tanning are associated with appearance concerns. Previous reviews and meta-analyses have indicated that appearance-focused interventions such as photoageing and UV photo are associated with positive effects in reducing UV exposure and/or increasing sun protection. Previous reviews identified methodological issues with research on this topic, which included limited a priori power calculations and a general lack of long-term follow-ups. What does this study add? This review concludes that photoageing information in combination with UV photo is associated with a medium positive effect size on sun protection intentions. Photoageing can be manipulated according to theoretical constructs (e.g., Theory of Alternative Behaviours), which may contribute to its effectiveness. Issues such as homogeneity of settings and participants and limited a priori power calculations in the included studies have been identified. This review specifically recommends that future research is conducted in locations with less overall sun exposure, and with a more diverse participant range (e.g., more males and older participants).