survey of the students' knowledge about hepatitis in Shiraz university of medical sciences

ABSTRACT

Because of the importance of hepatitis and the prevalence of contamination with hepatitis virus, a survey of the students' knowledge about viral hepatitis was conducted in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. This is a descriptive study performed in cross-sectional method. Ten percent of the students enrolled in different courses were selected by stratified sampling method. A structured questionnaire was designed to obtain information about their knowledge of hepatitis. The mean scores were 41.3 +/- 20.2 and 61 +/- 34.5 of 100 regarding knowledge about hepatitis and prevention of the disease, respectively. Students had more information about hepatitis prevention than about other aspects of the disease such as mode of transmission and symptoms. There were statistically significant differences between the knowledge of hepatitis by age, semester and educational degree [P<0.001]. This study showed no significant association between knowledge of hepatitis and sex, job, parents' education and the place of residence [P>0.05]. This study showed that students' knowledge of hepatitis was very weak. Their knowledge with respect to the prevention of the disease was higher than other aspects