Conocimiento y actitud frente a exposición solar del personal de salud en Atención Primaria, comuna Recoleta, Santiago, Chile

Abstract

Introduction: Skin cancer rates have increased worldwide despite the current prevention
 measures. It’s crucial to evaluate people’s knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour regarding
 sun exposure. Objective: To assess the knowledge and attitudes regarding sun exposure
 in the workers from primary health care. Method: 223 workers from three Family Care
 Centres(CESFAM) and from one Primary Emergency Service (SAPU) in the district of Recoleta
 were surveyed between the months of October and November 2015. Fisher’s exact test
 and Chi square test were used for statistic analysis. The survey included questions about
 demographic variables, knowledge of the association between sun radiation/skin cancer and
 attitudes towards sun protection. Results: the sample consists of 74 men and 149 women,
 with a mean age of 37 years ±SD 7.9. Phototype III was the most common (41.3%). The
 majority of the surveyed declared to be aware of the association between sun exposure and
 skin cancer (93.3%). As photoprotecting measures, sunscreens (87.4%) and seeking shade
 (71.3%) were the most frequently measures used. Regarding sunburns, 91.9% declared to
 have at least one during their lifetime, 21.5% occurring during the previous summer. As to the
 use of sunscreen, 42.1% referred only using while at the pool / beach and 12.6% declared
 not to use it at all. As for health promotion, 29.1% declared they never recommend the use
 of sun protection measures in their working practice. Discussion: Although there is adequate
 knowledge regarding the effects of sun exposure, it doesn’t always reflect on favourable
 attitudes and photoprotecting measures. There was a significantly greater amount of females
 with adequate knowledge and use of sun protection measures. This study is one of the first to
 assess photoprotection behaviour in health care workers.