Enhancing Skin Cancer Prevention and Awareness in the Italian Population: Insights from the “Save Your Skin” Screening Campaign

Introduction: Skin cancer prevention campaigns aim to reduce modifiable risk factors, yet high-risk groups often maintain inadequate protection practices. Objectives: This study analyzed data from Italy's 2023 "Save Your Skin" campaign, which provided free skin checks nationwide. Methods: Data from 1,773 participants across 29 centers in 13 regions were collected to assess sun exposure, photoprotection habits, and skin cancer awareness, identifying gaps in prevention efforts. Results: Most participants were female (70.16%), with a median age of 36, and 96.61% were born in Italy. While 71.24% joined for prevention reasons, others participated due to changes in a nevus (12.35%) or personal (2.31%) or family (7.33%) history of skin cancer. Self-assessments of nevi often did not align with dermatologists' evaluations, but family and personal history reporting was more accurate. Participants showed confusion about nevi and melanoma: only 52.7% correctly identified nevi as benign, while 67.2% recognized melanoma as malignant. On average, participants answered 1.57 out of three knowledge questions correctly, with those having a family or personal history of skin cancer performing better. High-risk sun exposure behaviors were identified in 37.78% of participants. Older adults used sunscreen less frequently but relied more on hats and shade, while younger individuals reported less sun exposure at work. Notably, participants with actinic damage demonstrated lower awareness and provided fewer correct answers on photoprotection. Conclusions: These findings underscore the need for targeted public health strategies to improve education on skin cancer prevention, particularly among high-risk and older populations.