ABSTRACT
Public education about sun protection/skin cancer prevention is very important. Programs have attempted to increase the public’s knowledge about the risks of sun exposure, to modify attitudes toward tanning and prolonged sun exposure and to change sun-protective behaviors. Community-based intervention is not only public health messages delivered through the mass media or by pamphlets distributed at various locations. Targeting messages to a specific audience may be required for further public education programming. An educational program was presented to one group of students in Sweden, with another group acting as the control. Skin cancer prevention education and counseling was performed at 2.3% of visits to American primary care physicians when compared with review of breast self-examination at 13% of visits, diet at 25.3%, nutrition at 5.7%, and tobacco at 17.9% of visits. Australia, with very high rates of skin cancer, has been a leader in public education in photoprotection.
