Attitude of Healthcare Students towards Japanese Encephalitis
Muhammad Shahid Iqbal *
Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-kharj, 11942, Saudi Arabia.
Salah-Ud-Din Khan
Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, Al Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Muhammad Zahid Iqbal
Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, AIMST University, 08100, Bedong, Kedah Darul Aman, Malaysia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Objective: To assess the attitude of healthcare students regarding Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in a medical university.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using a convenience sampling method. A self-developed and pre-validated tool was used to collect data from students studying in three healthcare faculties of a university in Malaysia. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 24.0 was used to analyze the data. The level of significance was alpha of 5% (0.05).
Results: Of the total of 252 studied student, more female students 177 (70.2%) participated in the present study than the male students 75 (29.8%).. The majority of the final years’ students had a positive attitude than the pre-final year students, with female students of the university had a more positive attitude (77.4%) as compared to the male students (69.3%) when the question was asked about the personal role in the management of JE is essential
Conclusion: Overall positive attitude was observed among the studied healthcare students. The present study concluded that pharmacy students had a more positive attitude than the two other faculties students i.e. dentistry and medicine regarding JE.
Keywords: Japanese Encephalitis, JE, attitude, healthcare students, university.