Perceptions of Traumatic Brain Injury among Preventive Medicine Program Residents in Aseer Region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

BACKGROUND Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a recognized public health problem with the increasing burden of disability and death occurring globally. We wanted to assess the perceptions about traumatic brain injury and also find its overall awareness among preventive medicine residents. METHODS This cross-sectional study involved preventive medicine program residents of Aseer region. Participants were recruited from Oct 1 2019, to Sept 30 2019. After giving a brief explanation and taking voluntary consent, a 40 item self-reported questionnaire was administered to the participants. Data entry and statistical analysis were performed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS windows version 16.0 software. Descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations) were performed for the patient's age and overall awareness level. Three points Likert scale was used to assess the effects of brain injury, causes and preventive measures as reported by program residents. RESULTS The majority of respondents were less than thirty years of age (64.7 %) and residing in the R1 level (67.6 %). The number of male respondents was more than three times compared to female respondents. The majority of respondents had good awareness about preventive measures of brain injury (97.1 %) and causes of brain injury (67.6 %). A higher proportion of respondents were having poor awareness about the effect of brain injury (79.4 %). Overall awareness level regarding brain injury was observed to be 58.8 % among the residents. CONCLUSIONS This study projects the need to strengthen the awareness about TBIs in the preventive program residents. This will provide valuable feedback to the policymakers and the national prevention program managers. KEY WORDS Traumatic Brain Injury, Residents, Preventive Medicine Program