Bridging the Gap between Healthcare and Haircare

Authors

Devan SpenceFollow

Files

Date

2022

Abstract

Patients often interact with hairdressers and barbers more frequently than with their primary care providers. This project aimed to empower these “paraprofessionals” with knowledge to facilitate early identification of skin cancer. Hairdressers at two locations, The Prestige and Dave’s Barbershop, were surveyed before and after a brief, 10-minute educational session on recognizing various types of skin cancer, supplemented by an informational brochure. Post-intervention, participants reported increased confidence in identifying skin lesions, with self-assessed scores rising by an average of 4 points on a 10-point scale (10 = highest confidence). These findings suggest that targeted education for hair professionals may enhance early detection of skin cancer in the community.

Clinical Site

Newport, CT

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Disciplines

Medical Education | Primary Care

Recommended Citation

Spence, Devan, "Bridging the Gap between Healthcare and Haircare" (2022). Family Medicine Clerkship Student Projects. 832.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fmclerk/832