Knowledge, Attitude, and Performance of People toward Skin Cancer in Yazd

Skin cancers including non-melanoma (NMSC) and melanoma are the most frequent skin cancers in the world. Skin cancer is the most common type of skin cancer in Iran too. The purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and performance of Yazd people concerning skin cancer and sun protection.

A questionnaire was used to 360 participants aged 18- 55 years.

Of the 358 participants who completed the questionnaire,44% were male and 56% female. Mean of knowledge score was 12.7 ± 5.04, mean of attitude score was 28.94 ± 2.95, and mean of performance was 8.37 ± 1.75. This study showed that knowledge was significantly associated with age, gender, education, and job (P< 0.05).Attitude toward skin cancer was significantly associated with education and job (P< 0.05), and performance was significantly associated with education (P< 0.05). Also there was a significant relationship between knowledge of skin cancer with attitude and performance, and between attitude with performance. The mass media was the main source of information about skin cancer for participants.

This study highlights the role of knowledge on attitude and performance and the role of attitudes on performance as well as people’s level of knowledge, attitude and performance as they are influenced by several factors including gender, age, education and job. These factors should be kept in mind when designing intervention programs concerning skin cancer and take steps to protect against it.