Sun Protection in the North Cyprus Turkish Population: Knowledge, Attitude and Behaviors of Elementary School Children and Their Families

Background and Design: Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC) according to the last 25 years' statistics of the country. The harmful effect of ultraviolet light is well-known and exposure especially in childhood has an important role in the pathogenesis. Having healthy individuals in sunny countries like the TRNC is related with the public knowledge and early gained behaviors. This study aims to determine the children's knowledge, attitude and behaviors towards sun, as well as the impact of familial attitudes on the behaviors of the children. Materials and Methods: Questionnaires about sun protection were applied to the children and their families in the most crowded elementary school in theTRNC Seven questions for knowledge, 7 for attitudes, and 5 for behaviors of families as well as 6 questions for the children were prepared. Results: Forty-one percent of families were aware of the need of regular and continuous sun protection, while 21.8% thought sun protection is important only in early infancy. Families reported media (44.5%) as the most common source of their knowledge regarding sun protection. Most of the families thought that they had performed sufficient research and had applied sun protection correctly, whereas 33% of the families reported lack of application in daily life. Almost 65% of the families reported a "need for additional knowledge" and 85.4% were eager to join educations. Most of the children had knowledge about sunscreens, whereas 2.7% had no idea. The relation between knowledge, attitude and behaviors of parents and children was evaluated and found to be significant statistically (p<0.001). The consciousness level of children increases with the parental consciousness. Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that the Turkish population in the NC is aware of sun protection but needs more education. The parental impact on children's behaviors was shown and the necessity of early education starting in the family was emphasized.