PREVENTION OF MALIGNANT-MELANOMA BY SUN P ROTECTIVE MEASURES IN CHILDHOOD - CHANGING AWARENESS PARENTS OVER TIME

Numerous epidemiological studies on risk factors of malignant melanoma confirm the etiologic role of excessive UV-exposure especially in chi ldhood. Preventive educational campaigns directed to parents of pre-sc hool children have been inaugurated in several countries. In Germany t he information was distributed by the ''Working group for Preventive M easures in Dermatology'' in cooperation with different public health i nstitutions and the media starting in 1993. To evaluate the influence of these efforts on the knowledge and behaviour of the parents,two suc cessive cross-sectional studies at all 56 nursery schools using the sa me standardised questionnaire were performed. The first interview took place in spring 1993 (before the campaign) with 1341 evaluable questi onnaires: the second in fall 1994 (after the campaign) with 1150 evalu able questionnaires. The knowledge of the parents on melanoma risk fac tors was significantly improved in the second interview. Also the pare ntal behavior regarding sun-protective measures when their children we re outdoor at the beach or in the garden definitely changed. In 1993 t he best textile sun protection was used by 21% of the parents at the b each and 36% in the garden. These numbers rose to 34% (beach) and 57% (garden) by the second interview. The percentage of children with no s unburn recorded during the preceding summer rose from 39% to 51%. Acco rding to the child's gender the parental behavior was different betwee n the sexes;boys were always better protected than girls. The design o f this study with two cross-sectional surveys in the same population d oes not provide a methodologically sound basis for attributing the obs erved positive changes to the campaign. Without any doubt it can be st ated that the parental knowledge and their attention to sun protection in their children showed substantial improvement in the second survey after the campaign. Thus, these results provide some evidence for the success of the preventive activities and confirm the necessity to con tinue with such activities.