Abstract
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We undertook a project to develop a psychometrically sound instrument measuring adolescent
sun-related behavior for use in the evaluation of a social marketing program. During the
preliminary stages, we conducted a pilot study to test the face validity of the instrument with
adolescents. Think-aloud sessions were completed with 24 adolescents. Results identified
gaps in our understanding of adolescent sun-related behavior. Adolescents interpreted
‘tanning’ as specifically lying at the beach in the sun, however also reported behaviours to
‘get a bit of sun’, suggesting adolescents and researchers have different interpretations of key
terms. The study highlights that use of the think-aloud technique can improve understanding
behaviours of the target market and improve the validity of measures of adolescent sunrelated
behaviour.