Parents' knowledge and behaviours towards sun protection

Abstract

Skin cancer is one of the most preventable cancers and yet the number of new cases is on the increase. The literature shows that approximately 25% of sun exposure occurs during the first 18 years of life and parents and guardians can act as role models for their children. These facts led the student researcher to carry out a small scale study to explore whether the attitudes, knowledge and behaviours of parents about sun protection is linked to their sun protection practices of their children. The main objectives of the study were to assess parents' knowledge about sun protection practices; to determine parents' awareness regarding exposure to sunlight in childhood as a determinant of skin cancer later in adulthood; and to determine the most effective way for parents to gain knowledge on sun protection. To do this a small scale, non-experimental, cross-sectional design was chosen to gather the information needed through a self-administered questionnaire. The randomly chosen sample consisted of 44 parents from a response rate of 75.9% attending the children's outpatients department at a local general hospital. The data was analysed manually, using tallies and Microsoft Excel to input data. The main findings obtained from this study show that there is a high level of knowledge amongst the parents as regards the sun's harmful effects but there is still a wrong perception on tanning. Also parents' tend to protect their children more than themselves but are not aware about the increase in the risk of developing skin cancer if one gets a sunburn under the age of 18. It was also noted that only few of the participants received advice from their healthcare professionals on sun protection methods, whereas literature shows that this is one of the most effective ways which influences parents to adopt sun protective measures for themselves and their children. Recommendations for practice and future research were drawn out of this study. The main recommendations include that paediatricians together with other healthcare professionals should start incorporating advice about sun protection methods and the harms of the sun to their patients, especially to parents. Also an observational study on the Maltese people behaviour as regards sun protection should be carried out, since self administered questionnaires could have an element of bias.