ABSTRACT
Background and Aims: It is necessary to know the baseline knowledge, attitude, and practices about human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome among young people and the changes in these with intervention to guide prevention efforts. Methods: A cross-sectional pre- and post-survey with health education as a method of intervention was carried out in four different randomly selected schools and junior colleges among the Class IX-XII students of both sex. Instrument developed by the World Health Organization (WHO)/UNAIDS in their best practice recommendations was used for data collection. Results: Knowledge about all correct methods was present in 61.23% of the respondents. Knowledge of at least two methods of prevention was present in 70.31% of the respondents. Misconceptions about prevention were that good diet (33.42%), avoiding mosquito bite (49.71%) and avoiding public toilets (65.14%) could help in the prevention. With intervention, there was an improvement in the knowledge. However, the proportion of students with misconceptions did not come down. Correct knowledge about two methods of prevention also did not reach the WHO recommendation of 90%. Conclusion: It is very difficult to change the attitude and practices by a single health educational intervention and an ongoing behavior change communication is recommended.
ABSTRACT
Background: There has been a growing concern among medical educators about the quality of medical graduates trained in various medical colleges in our country. Data based on the faculty and student perceptions of undergraduate curriculum indicate a need for laying more stress on practical skills during their training and assessment. The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) is a reliable and an established and effective multistation test for the assessment of practical skills in an objective and a transparent manner. The aim of this article is to sensitize universities, examiners, organizers, faculty, and students across India to OSCE. Materials and Methods: We designed an assessment based on 22-station OSCE and administered it to 67 students during their final year, integrating all the domains of learning, that is higher order cognitive domain, psychomotor domain, and affective domain. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 15. Results: The OSCE was feasible to conduct and had high perceived construct validity. There was a significant correlation between the station score and total examination score for 19 stations. The reliability of this OSCE was 0.778. Both students and faculty members expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the format. Conclusion: Integrating a range of modalities into an OSCE in ophthalmology appears to represent a valid and reliable method of examination. The biggest limitation with this format was the direct expenditure of time and energy of those organizing an OSCE; therefore, sustaining the motivation of faculty might pose a challenge.