Mouth cancer: knowledge of cargo transport drivers in a municipality of Santa Catarina (Brazil)

Abstract

Objective: To characterize the knowledge about oral cancer in a group of truck drivers. Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive study. The target population was 52 truck drivers from a company in the municipality of Itajaí (SC).The information was obtained through the application of a questionnaire structured in three fields: sociodemographic characteristics, attitudinal domain and cognitive domain. The data were submitted to the descriptive analysis, by obtaining the frequency (absolute and relative). Results: 45 drivers participated; all males, with a mean age of 48.2 years. As for schooling, the highest frequency (34.1%) was for full secondary education. Sixty percent did not receive information about oral cancer, but 82.2% showed an interest in participating in educational-preventive activities on the subject. None of the participants usually make observation of their oral cavity. In the questions of the cognitive field, the best performance was for the items on etiological factors; smoking was the most highlighted. The frequency of wrong answers was greater than 75% for most knowledge questions. The highest frequency of correct responses in the cognitive domain occurred among participants who had received information on the topic of oral cancer. Conclusion: Participants presented important gaps in knowledge about oral cancer however the best performance was identified among those who had previously received information about the subject under study.