Knowledge, attitude, and intention to practice pre-marital testing among midwifery students in Vietnam

ABSTRACT

Background@#Hereditary diseases are considered one of the most common causes of death and morbidity in infants and children. It significantly burdens the health system, family, and society. Pre-marital testing is one of the most proactive and effective ways to prevent hereditary diseases, infectious diseases, and congenital abnormalities.@*Purpose@#To examine the level of knowledge and attitudes regarding pre-marital testing and the intention to practice pre-marital testing; and, To identify the correlation between knowledge, attitudes, and intention to practice pre-marital testing among midwifery students.@*Methods@#Adescriptive correlational study was conducted from May to July 2020 among 150 midwifery students at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The research consists of a questionnaire with four main parts: demographic characteristics, knowledge about pre-marital testing, attitudes toward pre-marital testing, and intention to practice pre-marital testing. Descriptive statistics and univariate analysis were used for data analysis. The significance level of the statistical test was set up at α = .05.@*Results@#The average age of students was 21.73 years old, most of them were unmarried (98%). More than three-quarters (80.7%) of them had good knowledge about pre-marital testing and (88.7%) of them had a positive attitude towards pre-marital testing. Most students (94.7%) have an intention to use a pre-marital test and believe in its benefits. Knowledge was positively correlated with intention to practice pre-marital testing (X2 = 5.10, p = 0.02). Likewise, attitude toward pre-marital testing was positively correlated with the intention to practice pre-marital testing (X2 = 12.57, p < 0.001). @*Conclusions@#The findings emphasized the important role of health education which is a keystone in improving pre-marital knowledge, attitudes, and the practice of pre-marital testing to prevent hereditary diseases and improve people's health.