Published 17 February 2009, doi:10.1136/bmj.b95
Cite this as: BMJ 2009;338:b95

Research

Adolescents’ use of purpose built shade in secondary schools: cluster randomised controlled trial

Suzanne J Dobbinson, senior research fellow1, Vanessa White, research officer2, Melanie A Wakefield, director1, Kris M Jamsen, research fellow3, Victoria White, deputy director1, Patricia M Livingston, senior research fellow4, Dallas R English, director3, Julie A Simpson, senior lecturer3

1 Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer, Cancer Council Victoria, 1 Rathdowne Street, Carlton, Vic 3053, Australia, 2 Lincoln Centre for Research on Ageing, Australian Institute for Primary Care, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Vic 3086, 3 Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic and Analytic Epidemiology, School of Population Health, University of Melbourne, Carlton, 4 Faculty of Health, Medicine, Nursing and Behavioural Sciences, Deakin University, Melbourne, Vic 3215

Correspondence to: S Dobbinson Suzanne.Dobbinson{at}cancervic.org.au

Objective To examine whether students use or avoid newly shaded areas created by shade sails installed at schools.

Design Cluster randomised controlled trial with secondary schools as the unit of randomisation.

Setting 51 secondary schools with limited available shade, in Australia, assessed over two spring and summer terms.

Participants Students outside at lunch times.

Intervention Purpose built shade sails were installed in winter 2005 at full sun study sites to increase available shade for students in the school grounds.

Main outcome measure Mean number of students using the primary study sites during weekly observations at lunch time.

Results Over the study period the mean change in students using the primary study site from pre-test to post-test was 2.63 (95% confidence interval 0.87 to 4.39) students in intervention schools and –0.03 (–1.16 to 1.09) students in control schools. The difference in mean change between groups was 2.67 (0.65 to 4.68) students (P=0.011).

Conclusions Students used rather than avoided newly shaded areas provided by purpose built shade sails at secondary schools in this trial, suggesting a practical means of reducing adolescents’ exposure to ultraviolet radiation.

Trial registration Exempt.

© Dobbinson et al 2009
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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