Abstract
Background: The objective of this study was to determine the practice of skin cancer prevention amongMalaysian road traffic police officers. Materials and
Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 202 MalaysianRoad Police Traffic officers. Inclusion criteria were those officers who work wearing white uniform regulatingtraffic. The survey took place at the Police Traffic Station, Jln Tun H.S. Lee, Kuala Lumpur, the main HeadQuarters of Malaysian’s Traffic Department where almost 600 police traffic officers are employed. The policetraffic officers are given the task to take care of the traffic from the main office of the police station, then,according to the task, the officers drive to their given location for their duty. Each task is approved by the ChiefTraffic Inspector of Kuala Lumpur. Data collected in this study were analyzed using SPSS 13, with the T-test forunivariate analysis and multiple linear regression for multivariate analysis.
Results: A total of 202 road trafficpolice officers participated. The majority were older than 30 years of age, male, Malay, married, with secondaryeducation, with monthly income more than 2000 Ringgit Malaysia (66.3%, 91.1%, 86.6%, 84.7%, 96%, 66.3%;respectively). Regarding the practice of skin cancer prevention, 84.6% of the study participants were found towear hats, 68.9% sunglasses and 85.6% clothing that covering most of the body but only 16.9% used a sunscreenwhen they were outdoors. When analysis of the factors that influenced the practice of skin cancer prevention wasperformed, univariate analysis revealed that gender, age and monthly income significantly influenced the practiceof skin cancer prevention. For multivariate analysis, gender, monthly income and race significantly influencedthe practice of using sunscreen among road traffic police officers (p<0.001, p=0.019, p=0.027; respectively).
Conclusions: The practice of skin cancer prevention among the traffic police officers showed good practicesin terms of wearinga hat, sun glasses and clothing that covers most of the body. However, the study revealeda poor practice of the use of sunscreen. The factors that influence the practice of sunscreen use were found tobe gender, income, and race. The study suggests that more awareness campaign among traffic police officers isneeded. Providing sunscreen for free for police traffic officers should be considered by the Police authorities.
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