A study on knowledge, awareness and preventive practice about tuberculosis among medical students in Udaipur, India

Abstract

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a highly lethal infectious disease causing huge health burden worldwide, commonly involving the respiratory system. Medical students should also be empowered to impart awareness and reduce stigma related to TB. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether educational intervention would affect the level of TB awareness, knowledge, attitude and preventive practice of TB among medical students.Methods: The present study was carried out among the second year medical college students of Pacific Institute of Medical Sciences, Udaipur, India (n=142). A multiple-choice questionnaire of 45 questions was designed in English language, for pre- and post-tests. A 30-minute visual health education was given on TB and the assessment of knowledge, attitude and preventive practice of TB was done by a pre-test and post-test questionnaire.Results: Out of the total 150 student, 142 participated in the study making the response rate 94.66%. The total mean percentage of correct answers for TB knowledge was 48.59 (±20.44) which improved to 69.33 (±17.74) post-training. The total mean percentage of right attitude was 63.036 (±16.46) which improved to 77.06 (±15.58) post-training. The total mean percentage of correct answer for preventive practice were provided by 67.036 (±12.90) which changed to 79.50 (±12.01) post-training. There was significant difference in the knowledge, attitude and preventive practice of students in pre- and post-training tests (p=0.001).Conclusions: Our findings revealed that medical students had poor knowledge. A simple TB education session had a positive influence on knowledge, attitude and preventive practices about TB among them.

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“…It also reported that healthcare students in Rome, Brazil, Nigeria, and China had poor knowledge about the disease ( 27 ). Similar findings were reported in a study carried out in India, where healthcare students’ knowledge was assessed through a pre-test questionnaire, and their average score was 48.59 (± 20.44) ( 28 ). In Jordan, students reported knowledge gaps in TB treatment and transmission with a median score of 27 out of 51 ( 29 ).…”

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“…Se observa que la región con mayor carga de la enfermedad: Eje Cafetero en la cual los estudiantes rotaciones clínicas en los diferentes centros de atención médica podrían tener mayor oportunidad de atender pacientes con relación con los hallazgos evidenciados en la literatura, el tiempo y el número de pacientes están relacionados al nivel de conocimientos en TB de los estudiantes de último año de medicina (17,18) .…”

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