Nursing Student's Awareness on Skin Cancer

Background: Skin cancer is increasing all over the world. In order to reduce the incidence of skin cancer and to prevent the negative effects of the sun, it is important to increase individual awareness. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the awareness of nursing students about skin cancer. Methods: A sample of this descriptive and cross-sectional study; Between November 2018 and January 2019 there were 302 students studying in the nursing department of a university in the middle of the country. The data were collected by using the "Individual Information Form" and "Skin Cancer and Sun Knowledge Scale (SCSKS)". To evaluate the data frequency, percentage, average, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used. Results: The mean age of the students was 20.52 ± 2.42 and 67.9% were female. 30.5% of the students are second year students. Approximately half (52.6%) of the students in the Fitzpatrick scale had type III skin type. The mean total score of SCSKS was 13.64 ± 2.91. Sun protection subscale score was 3.84 ± 1.22; Tanning subscale score 6.39 ± 2.01; Skin Cancer Risk Factors subscale score was 1.81 ± 0.89; Prevalence of skin cancer subscale score was 1.06 ± 0.22; Signs of skin cancer subscale score was 0.45 ± 0.49. There was a significant difference between the total score of the students and the gender, father's educational status, place of residence, frequency of being sunburned, getting sun protection information and protection source (p 0.05). Conclusions: It can be said that nursing students have a moderate level of awareness of skin cancer and solar knowledge.