Fotoproteção: consciência e comportamento do estudante de medicina da Universidade Federal de Sergipe

Abstract

Objective: evaluate the knowledge and behavior of medical students at the Federal University of Sergipe in relation to photoprotection. Methods: An observational and descriptive study, with a quantitative approach, was developed based on a questionnaire analysis applied to medical students of the Federal University of Sergipe, about behavior and awareness about photoprotection. 200 questionnaires were analyzed from January to July 2018 by online form in Google Forms. Five questionnaires were excluded because they did not belong to the analyzed sample. Findings: There was predominance of females (55.0%) and students in the last year of college (49.0%). About 21.0% reported not having any type of sun exposure. Classes on photoprotection were assisted by 83 students (41.5%), according to them. The most frequent time of sun exposure was between 10 and 16 hours in 48.5% of the students. Almost all (99.0%) reported that photoprotection is important for skin health, however when asked about the habit of using sunscreen day by day, only 81.5% reported having this practice. Conclusion: In this group of medical students it was identified that the awareness and the photoprotection habits adopted are adequate and superior in relation to other populations of non-health professionals, however, there is a need to expand the research with other groups for accurate measures comparisons.