Eating Habits, Knowledge about Cancer Prevention and the HPLP Scale in Turkish Adolescents

Background: Nutritional status and healthy lifestyle are important factors not only in cancer etiology butalso for prevention efforts. A good nutritional status contributes to a healthy life with high economic, social andcultural level. Unhealthy eating habits are part of risky behavior seen from adolescence. The present study wastherefore carried out to determine eating habits, level of knowledge about cancer prevention and behavior of agroup of adolescents.
Methods: Data were collected using questionnaire covering eating habits and knowledgeof adolescents on prevention from cancer, and special scale (HPLP) to determine the related behavior. Threehundred sixty six of 390 students volunteered for study.
Results: Eating habits and the level of cancer preventionknowledge were similar for both genders, except for the exercise issue. The mean total points of adolescents inthe Health Promotion Behavior and Subscales was 113,63. While spiritual growth had the highest score inHPLP subscale, exercise had a minimal score. Exercise was the only HPLP subscale with a statistically significantdifference between male and female genders.
Conclusions: Although they have some information, the adolescentssurveyed did not have preventive skills relative to their practical life. In general in order to ensure cancerprevention and a healthy life style social, cultural and sportive activities should be encouraged and educationalprogrammes supporting these goals should be designed and applied for all stages of life, starting in earlychildhood.