Skin Cancer Risks and Practices of Farmers in Turkey

The goal of this study was to define knowledge and practices of rural farmers regarding skin cancer risks.The current descriptive study was conducted in one town of Ankara Province in August 2011. The farmers (n=110) living in Gulhuyuk Town constituted the study population. The sample size was determined as 86 farmers with 95% of confidence interval and 5% of standard error. Data was collected using a questionnaire developed by the researchers. Of the farmers, 51.2% were male, and the age average was 39.33±13.52. Of the farmers, 4.6% were identified to have fair hair, 5.8% were identified to have colored eyes, 25.6% were identified to have moles on their body, and 47.7% were identified to have factors that increased skin cancer risk, such as being outdoors for more than an hour and proportionately, history of blistering sunburns. 82.6% of them expressed that they knew about harmful effects of sunrays.Although the farmers were not a high-risk group in terms of some factors such as hair and eye color that increased risk of development of skin cancer, they were exposed to risks in terms of having moles on the body, being outdoors for more than an hour, and history of blistering sunburns.