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 individu- als 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.