ABSTRACT
Background: Medical students are at high risk of hepatitis B during their training, and are expected to be future doctors to acquire proper knowledge and attitude about the virus
The aim of the work: The present study aimed at assessing knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding hepatitis B virus among Saudi medical students
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study conducted among 147 clinical phase medical students during the period from may 2017 to April 2017. A self-administered questionnaire [five components and 46 choice questions with yes/no or yes/no/don't know] was used to assess knowledge [16 queries], attitude [18 items], symptoms and signs [6 questions], prevention [4 questions], and treatment [two issues]. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences [IBM, SPSS, version 20, New York] was used for data analysis. The data were presented as percentages and mean+/- SD unless otherwise specified. A P-value of <0.05 was considered significant
Results: Out of 147 medical students [51% males], their age was 22.90+/-1.2 years, the student's overall knowledge was 70.54+/-26.51%, the knowledge regarding symptoms and complications was 83.9+/-9.11%, while the prevention, treatment, and attitude scores were 67.17+/-20.96%, 51.7+/-32.66%, and 53.52+/-26.11% respectively
Conclusion: The students in Tabuk had a negative attitude towards hepatitis B virus in spite of the fair knowledge, their knowledge regarding the virus prevention and treatment were suboptimal