Determining the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of the parents of infants between 0-1 years old about sun protection

This study aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours about sun protection in parents with 0-1-year-old babies, and the relationship between these features and the social, economic and demographic characteristics of the parents. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with the parents of 0-1-year-old babies registered in Ankara Mamak Ege No. 2 Family Health Center between 08.09.2021 and 08.09.2022. Data were collected using the face-to-face interview technique with the parents. In the data collection form, questions about the sociodemographic characteristics of parents and babies, parents' knowledge and attitudes about sun protection, parents' self-efficacy in the use of sunscreen products, expectations and barriers, sun avoidance self-efficacy, and tanning expectations about their babies. While 77.1% of the 275 parents included in the study were female and their mean age was 31 years, the mean age of the babies was 5.9 months. Since 62.9% of the parents have a university or higher education level, 25 parents (9.1%) work in the sector of medicine or health. The most common sources of information for parents about sun protection are the internet (40%), family physicians (26.5%), paediatricians (18.9%) and dermatologists (10.2%). While 20% of the parents use sunscreen products, 56.4% of these parents started using it under 6 months. While the use of sunscreen products was higher in parents who and/or whose spouse work in the medical or health sector, the frequency of sunscreen use increases statistically significantly as the education level and monthly household income increase. The Parental Sun Protection Scales score of the parents whose information source about sun protection was health personnel was statistically significantly higher than the parents whose source was not health personnel. Parents knew that it was necessary to expose their babies to the sun, practice sun avoidance behaviours when the harmful effects of the sun are high, and use sunscreen products when necessary. It would be an important and beneficial intervention to inform parents of infants aged 1 year and younger about sun protection behaviours and the use of sunscreen products by family physicians and family health personnel, who are at the centre of individual preventive health services.