Knowledge, attitude, and practice of Iranian health sciences students regarding hepatitis B and C virus infections: A national survey

Publication date: Available online 12 October 2017
Source:American Journal of Infection Control
Author(s): Hamidreza Karimi-Sari, Mohammad Ehsan Bayatpoor, Maryam Aftabi Khotbesara, Motahare Sadat Ebrahimi, Zahra Sattari, Paria Sattari, Narges Saberi Shakib, Hanie Taheri, Sina Abdolrahim Poor Heravi, Mahsa Dinizadeh, Pedram Vahed, Kiyana Shirsavar, Hediye Hosseini, Sara Rashvand, Dorsa Jalaei, Mahdi Azarafraz, Mohebullah Naderi, Mahtab Pourzakaria, Mohammad Firoozbakht, Mohammad Hossein Khosravi, Seyed Moayed Alavian
BackgroundThe World Health Organization seeks to achieve the goal of viral hepatitis elimination by 2030 and lack of general knowledge about viral hepatitis seems to be a barrier to reaching this goal. This study was designed to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) regarding hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections among Iranian health sciences students in 12 Iranian medical sciences universities using a national survey.MethodsThis survey was conducted during the second Hepatitis Awareness Campaign, which was held during the Iranian National Hepatitis Week (October 22-28, 2016). Students who visited our booths and were willing to participate in our survey were selected using convenience sampling and their HBV- and HCV-related KAP were evaluated.ResultsTwo thousand one hundred fifty-six health sciences students with mean age of 21.24 years participated in our survey. The mean KAP scores were 7.35 (out of 10), 4.88 (possible score, –20 to +20), and 5.67 (out of 9). Students with experience of accidental exposures to blood (21.6%) had better KAP scores compared with the students without such experiences. The mean KAP scores were associated with subjects' year of education, field of study, university, and province (P < .05).ConclusionsOur study showed that HBV- and HCV-related KAP in a sample of Iranian health sciences students was not satisfying. The results also demonstrated priority of needing intervention regarding KAP in some subject areas, lower years of education, and some universities compared with others.



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