Knowledge, attitude and practice with respect to sleep among undergraduate medical students of Mekelle University

Abstract

Medical college students are vulnerable to a variety of sleep disorders due to the rigorous nature of their studies. This study was conducted to determine the knowledge, attitude and practice of sleep among medical students of Mekelle University. A cross‐sectional study was carried out among 2nd to 6th year undergraduate medical students of Mekelle University. The mean knowledge, attitude and practice scores were calculated and compared across various subgroups of respondents. A total of 252 students (51 female and 201 male) completed the survey. The mean age of the students was 22 ± 1.65 years and ages ranged from 18–28 years. The mean ± SD scores of knowledge, attitude and practice were 79 ± 13.8, 80.4 ± 18.4 and 176.2 ± 23.9, respectively. In univariate analysis, there were significant differences between ages regarding knowledge (P < 0.002) and attitude (P < 0.03). There was also a significant difference regarding sleep practice (P < 0.049) between differing places of family residence. Similarly, a Tukey–Kramer multiple comparison test showed significant knowledge and attitude differences by students' year of study. This study showed that levels of awareness, perception and practice were generally low among the medical students. Therefore, educational strategies to improve knowledge and perception regarding sleep disorders and the development of proper sleep practices among medical students are needed.

Sleep hygiene awareness: its relation to sleep quality and diurnal preference

“…Our results indicated levels of sleep awareness in line with findings from other countries, such as Croatia [ 37 ], England [ 38 ], Italy [ 28 ], Spain [ 28 , 39 ], Sweden [ 40 ], United States of America [ 8 , 12 ], Canada [ 14 ], Australia [ 41 ], Turkey [ 42 ], Hong Kong [ 15 ], India [ 43 ], Taiwan [ 44 ] or Ethiopia [ 45 ]. Unlike reports from the Western literature [ 14 , 28 ] and like a previous study of ours [ 32 ], current data do not support the idea that evening types have poorer sleep hygiene awareness.…”

“…Age appeared to be an important factor affecting sleep hygiene awareness, but not sleep quality. Despite theoretically better sleep quality owing to natural plasticity and automaticity of sleep and lesser likelihood of disease that interferes sleep [ 24 ], young people report poor sleep quality [ 12 , 18 , 45 , 50 - 53 ], possibly because they do not implement known techniques, due to the pressure of increased work, study or social demands. For the older participants, despite having better sleep hygiene awareness that should facilitate better sleep practices, these benefits may be of lesser extent taking into account the associated physiological or pathological changes that lead to a deterioration of sleep quality [ 24 ].…”

Sleep hygiene awareness: Its relation to sleep quality among medical students in King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

“…The mean score of the respondents was 10.49 (S.D 4.64). These results are consistent with the level of awareness in studies in Ethiopia[20] and Hong Kong,[18] while it is not in accordance with the results of a study that measured the SH awareness among students in Italy and Spain which revealed a good awareness. [15] Of note, the percentage of respondents having good knowledge about negative effects of drinking coffee or other substances is similar to those in a study conducted in Romania.…”

Sleep Disturbances among Medical Students: A Global Perspective

“…30 A study among Ethiopian students also determined that medical students had generally low levels of awareness, perception, and practice with respect to sleep. 31 Among the sleep awareness studies done in Asia, most of the studies found that medical students generally had poor knowledge and misconceptions about sleep. The only exception was the study done in Nepal, where sleep knowledge was satisfactory, although the attitude score was found to be low.…”