Skin cancer knowledge and prevention practices among Turkish bus drivers.

OBJECTIVE: To determine skin cancer knowledge levels and prevention practices among bus drivers. METHODS: The cross sectional study was conducted in Aydin province, western Turkey, from April to June 2018, and comprised bus drivers who came to the primary health centre. Data was collected using a predesigned questionnaire based on sociodemographic characteristics and the Skin Cancer and Sun Knowledge Scale. Data was analysed using SPSS 16. RESULTS: There were 125 male bus drivers with a mean age of 42.0±9.1 years. There was a significant relationship between history of skin cancer in the family and the presence of freckles (p<0.05). Those who were exposed to the sun for one or two hours a day scored higher on the knowledge scale than those with a sun exposure of >2 hours a day (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The bus drivers did not have enough knowledge about the critical significance of skin cancer.

Application of the Champion Health Belief Model to determine beliefs and behaviors of Turkish women academicians regarding breast cancer screening: A cross sectional descriptive study.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is an important cancer type and the most common malignancy among women in both developed and developing countries and the second leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide. This study aimed to examine the projected risk of breast cancer in Turkish women academician, determine the levels of their breast cancer screening behaviors and uncover the relationship between their health beliefs and screening behaviors. METHODS: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted from March to July 2018 in the province of Aydin, Turkey with a total of 200 female academicians. The data were collected using questionnaires filled out by the participants and the Turkish version of the Champion Health Belief Model Scale. Data were analyzed using t test, ANOVA, Chi-square and logistic regression performed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20. RESULTS: The mean age of the female academics was 36.1 ± 0.53 years. The female performing breast self-examination had higher perceived sensitivity (OR = 2.88, 95% Cl 1.32, 2.66) benefits to breast self-examination (OR = 0.90, 95% Cl 0.82, 0.99), self-efficacy (OR = 0.87, 95% Cl 0.81, 0.93) health motivation (OR = 1.74, 95% Cl 0.50, 0.90), benefit to mammography (OR = 0.97, 95% Cl 0.88, 1.08), lower barrier to mammography (OR = 1.05, 95% Cl 1.0, 1.09) than women who did not. Female academics with clinical breast examination had higher self-efficacy (OR = 0.91, 95% Cl 0.86, 0.97) and lower barrier to mammography (OR = 1.06, 95% Cl 1.02, 1.10) than women who did not. The female with take mammography had higher sensitivity (OR = 0.84, 95% Cl 0.72, 0.98), lower barrier to breast self-examination (OR = 1.08, 95% Cl 1.02, 1.15) and lower barrier to mammography (OR = 1.09, 95% Cl 1.04, 1.14) than female who did not. CONCLUSIONS: Female academicians in Turkey exhibit positive attitudes towards breast self-examination, clinical breast examination and mammography as they have higher perceived sensitivity against breast cancer, self-efficacy and fewer barriers. Long-term community-based programs should be extended to different groups of women from a variety of socio-demographic environments.

The effect of an eye health promotion program on the health protective behaviors of primary school students.

INTRODUCTION: Undiagnosed and uncorrected refractive errors in childhood can negatively affect the development of vision and cause students to have low academic success and even quit school before graduation. This study aims to determine the effects of an eye health promotion program on the health protective behaviors of primary school students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This experimental study using a pretest-posttest design with a control group was conducted in three public primary schools in Aydin, a city in the Western Anatolia Region of Turkey, between April and November 2014. The eye health promotion program was provided by the researchers to the experimental Group 2 days in 4 weeks. The data were analyzed using the t-test, Chi-square analysis, the Mann-Whitney U-test, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and the McNemar test. RESULTS: The average age of the students was identified as 9.0 ± 3.64 years. The students wearing glasses all in the experimental group and 53.3% in the control group were found to always wear their glasses after the education program was completed (P < 0.05). These students, 97.9% in the experimental group and 58.1% in the control group underwent eye examinations from an ophthalmologist (P < 0.05). The eye health protective behaviors of the experimental group were found to have positively changed in the final follow-up, compared to the control group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The eye health promotion program was found to be effective in improving eye health protective behaviors within the experimental group.

Analysis of health promoting lifestyle behaviors and associated factors among nurses at a university hospital in Turkey.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the health promotion lifestyle behaviors (HPLB) of nurses working in a university medical faculty hospital in Turkey and to investigate the factors related behaviors. METHODS: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted in Ankara University Medical Faculty Hospital, Ankara, Turkey, between January 2008 and 23 January 2009. Two hundred and eighty nurses were recruited randomly out of 550 female nurses. However, 10 of them were removed from the research due to the annual leave. The study was conducted among 270 nurses. Health promotion lifestyle behaviors were evaluated using Personal Information Form and Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP II). Data were analyzed using independent t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA), Kruskall Wallis, Tukey test by SPSS Version 16 package with significance level of p<0.05. RESULTS: The highest sub-scale score with 26.0+/-5.00 was detected from self-realization and the lowest was detected from physical activity with 13.9+/-4.50 points. Nurses` self-realization scores differed significantly by perception of health status (p=0.029). Income status differed significantly by health responsibility (p=0.049), interpersonal relations (p=0.032), stress management (p=0.027) subscales, and total score of the HPLP II (p=0.043). The physical activity subscale score of the HPLP II differed significantly by marital status (p=0.036) and situation of having a child but singles scored better than married (p=0.001). CONCLUSION: Low exercise score indicated the need for intervention programs for the nurses surveyed. New regulations aim to raise the income level of nurses should be applied.