Elderly cleaners are exposed to sunlight while working outdoors, thereby increasing their risk of sunburn and heat-related illnesses, including skin damage, dehydration, and skin cancer. Wearing protective clothing and using sunscreen is essential for safety.

Aim

Evaluate the effectiveness of an adaptation training program for elderly cleaners exposed to sunlight.

Research design

A quasi-experimental study design was used in this study.

Setting

The study was conducted in the cities of Beni Suef and Sohag.

Subjects

A convenience sample involved 111 elderly cleaners in a previous setting.

Tool

An interviewing questionnaire consisted of five parts: 1st part: Demographic characteristics; 2nd part: Medical history; 3rd part: Knowledge of elderly cleaners; 4th part: Attitudes of elderly cleaners; and 5th part: Reported practices of elderly cleaners regarding sunlight exposure.

Results

The study found that 5.0% of the elderly cleaners had a good total knowledge level before the pre-training program, and this increased to 77.0% after applying the training program. 89.0% of them had inadequate levels of total reported practices before applying to the training program, which improved to 90.0% of them having adequate total reported practices after applying to an adaptation training program. Also, a statistically significant relationship was found between the demographic characteristics of elderly cleaners and their total knowledge, total attitude, and total reported practices regarding sunlight exposure.

Conclusion

The adaptation training programs have a positive effect on improving knowledge, attitudes, and reported practices of elderly cleaners …