Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Medical Science Students Regarding Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases: A Cross-Sectional Study

Hamed Aramjoo; Mahdi Abdollahi-Karizno; Shokouh Ghaffari; Azadeh Ebrahimzadeh; Majid  Zare-Bidaki

doi:10.18502/htaa.v5i1.7379

Hamed Aramjoo Student Research Committee, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran
Mahdi Abdollahi-Karizno Student Research Committee, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran
Shokouh Ghaffari Infectious Diseases Research Center, Medical Microbiology Department, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran
Azadeh Ebrahimzadeh Infectious Diseases Research Center, Medical Microbiology Department, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran
Majid Zare-Bidaki Infectious Diseases Research Center, Medical Microbiology Department, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/htaa.v5i1.7379

Keywords: Knowledge; Attitude; Practice; Emerging Infectious Diseases; Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases; Medical Education

Abstract

Background: Emerging infectious diseases are contagious illnesses made of a newfound lineage of a microorganism.

Objectives: This survey aimed to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of health science students regarding emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.

Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted on 462 randomly selected students from several constituent colleges of Birjand University of Medical Sciences, including nursing, medicine, dentistry, and paramedical colleges (from October to March 2019) who had just passed their microbiology courses. A simple random sampling method was used to avoid bias that could influence the validity of the results. Moreover, participation was entirely voluntary. For data collection, a structured knowledge, attitude, and practice questionnaire was used, whose validity was checked by experts. In the end, the collected data were analyzed by SPSS V.19 using the independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA).

Results: Totally, 462 medical science students (mean age = 20.27 ± 3.69 years) participated in this survey. According to the collected data, the mean scores for KAP were at a medium level, which was not ideal, and showed that there were several weaknesses in the curriculum. The mean knowledge scores for medicine, dentistry, laboratory science, and nursing students were 42.53 ± 15.78, 46.24 ± 20.99, 39.63 ± 15.35, and 40 ± 19.43, respectively. The mean attitude scores were 60.25 ± 6.13, 59.68 ± 5.86, 58.60 ± 5.06, and 57.77 ± 6.59, and the practice mean scores were 58.99 ± 25.11, 67.80 ± 25.72, 62.46 ± 24.48, and 62.29 ± 21.08, respectively.

Conclusions: According to the collected data, paying more attention to the microbiology courses is recommended in all medical and paramedical disciplines. Moreover, it is necessary to provide further education for the students to prepare them to take appropriate measures to prevent the spread of infection.