Designing a Skincare Health Curriculum with a Focus on Online Health Literacy

Despite playing an important role in overall bodily health, skincare is rarely taught in the standard educational health curriculum. Meanwhile, skin-related content, from gua sha face sculpting routines to self-tanning tutorials, is ubiquitous on online platforms like social media. Such content has become increasingly popular among high school students, in particular, as they are often managing puberty-related skin issues and growing self-awareness about their appearance. Furthermore, as avid technology users are continuously exposed to this content, it is important for high school students to accurately assess online health information—defined as online health literacy—especially with the rampant spread of misinformation on frequently used sources like social media. Thus, the goal of this project was to create a skincare health curriculum to fill the gap in health education within high school curricula, teach adolescents about skincare, and address the pervasive issue of online misinformation by enhancing their abilities to navigate and evaluate skin health information on online platforms.