College Students' Knowledge, Attitudes and Perceptions of Risks Regarding Intentional Sun Exposure

The Skin Cancer and Sun Knowledge (SCSK) Scale

“…Keesling and Friedman (1987) found a similar relationship for sun exposure in adults of both genders; however, a nonsignificant relationship was reported in a study including participants of mixed gender and unknown age (Berwick, Fine, & Bolognia, 1992). The outdoor tanning finding contrasts with a number of studies that found no significant relationship in a sample of similar age; however, those studies included both males and females (Felts et al, 2010; Keesling & Friedman, 1987; Vail-Smith & Felts, 1993). The comparisons of the findings in this study to previous works need to be considered in light of the measurement differences in skin cancer knowledge.…”

“…A recent systematic review conducted by the authors of this study found that the relationship between skin cancer knowledge and sun-related behaviors is unclear, and more research is needed (Day, Wilson, Hutchinson, & Roberts, 2013). There appears to be a positive association between sun protection and skin cancer knowledge, and although there are limited data on the link between knowledge and sun tanning, there is some suggestion that the relationship acts in a counterintuitive direction, with skin cancer knowledge positively related to unhealthy tanning behaviors (Choi et al, 2010; Felts, Burke, Vail-Smith, & Whetstone, 2010; Sjöberg, Holm, Ullén, & Brandberg, 2004). The reasons for this are unclear.…”

Female university students’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours towards sun exposure and the use of artificial tanning devices: the essence of reducing risky behaviours

“…Firstly, the overall knowledge of the participants was only average. This is not consistent with some other international studies (Felts et al 2010;Hedges and Scriven 2010;Mousavi et al 2011) as well as a Northern Ireland study by Boyle et al (2010) who, in 2008, found knowledge of participants to be high. Contrary to Mousavi et al (2011), our study suggests that being at university is not associated with better knowledge on skin cancer and safe sun exposure practices, but Another important finding in the study, although potentially expected, was that students studying a degree within a life and health sciences faculty (health courses such as nursing, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy) had significantly better knowledge scores than students from other faculties such as computer and arts faculties.…”

“…These findings suggest that there is disconnection between the good attitude of the majority of the participants and their self-reported behaviour. Felts et al (2010) also found a disconnection between knowledge, risk perception, and behaviour.…”

The role of skin cancer knowledge in sun-related behaviours: A systematic review

“…Buller et al, 1995; Gillani et al, 2001; Glanz et al, 1999; Guile and Nicholson, 2004;Hughes et al, 1993); however, there were a number of reported examples of skin cancer knowledge deficits. For instance, studies reported low skin cancer knowledge regarding the effects of the sun on physical appearance over time (see Kakourou et al, 1995, 2006), the future impact of severe sunburns (see Felts et al, 2010) and identification of melanoma as a form of skin cancer (see Fritschi et al, 1992). Notably, authors reflected that some participants were not convinced of their children’s susceptibility to skin cancer (Buller et al, 1995), of the utility of protective methods (De Vries et al, 2005) or (as recently as 2010) felt that ‘sun-safe’ behaviours were not necessary (Spradlin et al, 2010).…”