Effects of Creating Awareness Through Photographs and Posters on Skin Self-Examination in Nursing Students Özüm Erkin 1 & Melek Ardahan 1 & Ayla Bayık Temel 1 # American Association for Cancer Education 2016 Abstract Nurses can have an influence on primary and second- ary prevention of skin cancer. Therefore, it is important to help them acquire knowledge and skills necessary to modify behavior in relation to skin cancers. The aim of this study was to examine effects of creating awareness through photographs and posters on knowledge and skills of skin self-examination in nursing stu- dents. The study had a quasi-experimental design with a pretest and a posttest in a single group. The study population included 249 last-year nursing students in Turkey. Non-probability sam- pling was used to reach the population. The study sample was composed of 201 students volunteering to participate in the study, and the response rate was 81 %. Of the students, 85.1 % (n = 171) were female and the mean age of the students was 22.18 ± 0.78 years. Of the students, 94.5 % did not know the asymmetry, border, color, diameter, evolution (ABCDE) criteria on the pretest, but this rate decreased to 20.9 % on the posttest. The mean score for knowledge of symptoms of skin cancer was 10.95 ± 1.37 on the pretest and 11.48 ± 0.90 on the posttest. There was a significant linear increase in the scores for knowledge of the symptoms (F = 7.874, p < 0.001) after the intervention with photographs and posters. The students were observed to learn the ABCDE criteria and had increased knowledge of skin cancer symptoms after the intervention using photographs and posters. Photographs and posters are effective tools which can be used to increase awareness of skin self-examination. Keywords Nurse . Skin . Self-examination . Photographs . Posters . Students Background Melanoma has had the highest incidence among all cancers all over the world in the past 20 years. Skin cancers are classified into two: non-melanoma skin cancer and melanoma [1]. They are the most frequent cancer in Australia at an incidence of 40–45 in every 100,000 people [2]. It is estimated that the incidence of melanoma will increase by 88 % in males and 66 % in females in the UK by 2020 [3]. It has been reported to increase fourfold in the USA in the past 25 years [4]. Skin cancer incidence was 2.1 % in 100,000 people in Turkey [5]. When compared with other cancer screening programs, one- time melanoma screening of the general population is quite effective and inexpensive [6, 7]. Reported guidelines under- line the fact that healthcare professionals play an important part in primary and secondary prevention of melanoma. In primary prevention, the public and healthcare providers are educated to increase awareness of melanoma and to modify risk behavior. Secondary prevention allows early detection through such strategies as skin self-examination (SSE) and skin screening and helps to lower morbidity and mortality [8, 9]. Screening and early detection programs make it possi- ble to diagnose and treat melanoma earlier [7]. Therefore, it is suggested that all individuals older than 20 years should have regular screening for skin cancer and monthly SSE [10]. SSE is an early diagnosis method recommended by several institu- tions [10–13]. Berwick et al. [14] reported in a case-control study that SSE reduced melanoma mortality by 63 %. Melanoma Monday has been considered as National Skin Self Examination Day in the USA to enhance awareness about melanoma and to motivate people for a lifelong habit of reg- ular SSE [15]. There are many websites full of photographs of normal and abnormal lesions and SSE techniques [11–13]. In fact, Bhavnani [16] noted that in-person training and educa- tion for ABCDE criteria through web pages helped the public * Özüm Erkin ozum.erkin@gmail.com 1 Faculty of Nursing, Department of Public Health Nursing, Ege University, Bornova, Izmir, Turkey J Canc Educ DOI 10.1007/s13187-016-1037-y