Evaluation of Skin Cancer Risk Factors and Sun Protection Methods among MedicalFaculty Students

Abstract

Purpose: It was aimed to evaluate the sun protectionmethods and skin cancer risk factors among medicalstudents.Materials and Methods: The universe of thedescriptive research is 1,2,3,4,5 and 6th gradestudents (1482 students) of the medical faculty of astate university. It was aimed to reach the wholeuniverse, no sample size was calculated. Thequestionnaire was delivered via WhatsApp inNovember-December 2021. Sociodemographicinformation, skin cancer risk factors, sun protectionmethods were questioned (38 questions). Thebehaviors of sun protection methods were evaluatedby scoring the questions (6 questions). Higher scoreindicates higher protection behavior. Median,minimum, maximum values, numbers (n) andpercentages (%) were used for descriptive data. TheMann Whitney U test was used to compare thequantitative variables that did not fit the normaldistribution. The significance level was consideredas p<0.05.Results: Of the participants 58.3% (n=354) werewomen, 25.2% (n=153) were sixth grade. Of thestudents 34.9% (n=212) use sunscreen, 32.3%(n=196) use a hat, 39.9% (n=242) use sunglassesonly in summer. Of the students 48.9% (n=297) hadFitzpatrick skin type 3, 20.3% (n=484) reportedhaving more than 50 nevi, 37.2% (n=226) reportedhaving nevi larger than 2 mm. Female students,students educating in upper classes and living incoastal areas, having Type 1-2-3 skin types andfreckles had higher sun protection behavior scores(p<0.05).Conclusions: The rate of medical faculty studentspaying attention to sun protection methods is notsufficient. Awareness on this issue should beincreased