Sun Safety and Skin Cancer

Running head: SUN SAFETY AND SKIN CANCER
1
Sun Safety and Skin Cancer
[Name]
[Student ID]
[Word count]

SUN SAFETY AND SKIN CANCER 2
Introduction
Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer diagnosis among Caucasian populations
in certain countries, including Australia, Norway, New Zealand, and Slovenia. 1 Skin cancer risk
is increased by sun exposure. 2 The focus of the current report is to explore how sun safety
behaviors or strategies can contribute to reduction in risk of skin cancer in young adults aged
between 25 and 35 in Australia. To explore the topic search strategy was established and eight
relevant literatures were located and discussed. Based on the findings, the efficacy of sunscreen
in comparison to shading devices in
Search Strategy
A search strategy was established to find relevant articles exploring the role of sun safety
approaches in prevention of skin cancer. Electronic databases including Pubmed, CINAHL, and
Medline were utilized in literature search. Key words and Boolean operators ‘OR’ and ‘AND’
combined were used to aid in retrieving prolific and more specific results. The Population,
Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome tool (PICO) was utilized to guide the search. The search
terms used are included in table 1.
Table 1. The components of research question in PICO format, key words and phrases, and
synonyms
Population Intervention Comparison Outcome
Australian adults
aged between 25
and 35 years
Frequent utilization
of Sun safety
approaches
No preventive
strategy
Skin cancer
 Australian  Sunscreen  Discretionary  Skin cancer

SUN SAFETY AND SKIN CANCER 3
adults
 Young
adults
 Hats
 Shade
 Clothing
 Sunglasses
or lack of use
of sunscreen,
hats, shade,
clothing, &
sunglasses
 Keratinocyte
cancer
 Basal cell
carcinoma
 Cutaneous
squamous cell
carcinoma
Table 2. Names of databases searched and search yield
Database Search term Search
yield
Selected
Articles
Pubmed Young adults AND sun safety OR sun prevention strategies
AND skin cancer AND Australia, sun prevention and skin
cancer OR Keratinocyte cancer or Basal cell carcinoma OR
Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma
N = 120 4
Medline People aged between 25 and 35, AND sun safety OR sun
protection, AND skin cancer AND Australia, sun prevention
and skin cancer OR Keratinocyte cancer or Basal cell
carcinoma OR Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma
N=100 3
CINAHL Young adults AND sun safety, sunburn prevention AND skin
cancer AND in Australia, sun prevention and skin cancer OR
Keratinocyte cancer or Basal cell carcinoma OR Cutaneous
squamous cell carcinoma
N=50 1

SUN SAFETY AND SKIN CANCER 4
Table 3. Summary of research articles retrieved and included in the study
Citation Aims Methods/design Sample/
population
Findings Location
Sanchez,
et al. 4
To investigate
the impact of
sun protection
technique in
prevention of
keratinocyte
cancer
Systematic
review
General
population
no significant
association
between sunscreen
utilization and risk
of skin cancer was
found
Pubmed
Horsham,
et al.6
To study
interventions
of skin cancer
prevention in
outdoor
employee
Systematic
review
Workers
from outdoor
companies
Educational as well
as multicomponent
prevention
strategies were
found to be effect
Personal protective
techniques were
also efficient in
preventing skin
cancer
Pubmed
Grandahl,
et al.7
To investigate
sun protective
behavior of
outdoor
employees in
Denmark at
work, on sun
holiday, and in
leisure
Cross-sectional
study
380 outdoor
and 119
indoor
workers
Most workers used
long-sleeved shirts
and sun screen.
Other physical
barriers were used
by few participants
Most participants
deemed the risk
from sun and skin
cancer to be
insignificant, using
sunscreen as less
important, and
some did not think
of the risk
Pubmed
Lazovich,
et al.8
Investigate
usage patterns
Population
based case
1,167 cases
and 1,101
Optimal utilization
of sunscreen and
Medline