A Study to Assess Knowledge and Awareness About the Hepatitis B and C Among Nursing College Students of Central India

Abstract

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND:The lives of millions of adolescents worldwide are at risk because they do not have the information; skills, health services and support which they need to go through sexual development during adolescence. The epidemic of Hepatitis B/HCV is now progressing at a rapid pace among young people. AIMS& OBJECTIVE: To assess knowledge of nursing students towards Hepatitis B/HCV Awareness, Prevention & Control. To assess knowledge increase after educational intervention by means of lectures and discussions among nursing students. MATERIAL& METHOD: An educational interventional study was conducted in Kushabhau Thakre Nursing College, Kolar Road, Bhopal. Study population included all Nursing students. Sample size was 200 students. Inclusion Criteria included all Nursing students present at the time of pre intervention interview and who gave informed consent. The data was analyzed using appropriate statistical software (MS excel and SPSS version 20). Mc Nemar test was applied for statistical significance of knowledge improvement by intervention. RESULT: Most of the Nursing students (95%) were correctly known that Hepatitis B/HCV is a viral disease and an effective vaccine against Hepatitis B is available in the market but they are not able to differentiate between Hepatitis B and C, in fact they have a mis-conception that both are the same entity. After intervention 87% of the students were aware about preventive measures against Hepatitis B/HCV. Health care providers (55%), Teaching (25) and Mass media (22%) were main source of knowledge for them. More than two thirds of students had positive attitude towards Hepatitis B/HCV infected patients. CONCLUSION: The study revealed that although a significant proportion of students were aware of Hepatitis B/HCV, their knowledge on prevention modalities was low as majority of them are unable to differentiate Hepatitis B from Hepatitis C. Students also harbored misconceptions on the modes of Hepatitis B/HCV transmission. Television, newspapers and internet were quoted as the most common source of information.

Prevalence of Hepatitis B and C Virus Infection among Students of a Private Tertiary Institution in South-Western Nigeria

“…Pakistan and NursingCollege Students of Central India indicated to have knowledge and awareness of HBV infection as reported by Ghouri et al[38] and Mahore et al[39], respectively.With regard to HCV infection, a zero (0%) prevalence rate was recorded in this current study as none of the participants were positive for antibody to Hepatitis C Virus (anti-HCV). This agrees with the work of Muhibi et al[40] and Alquatani et al[24], who both reported zero (0%) prevalence of anti-HCV antibody among undergraduate students of Achievers University, Owo in south-west Nigeria, as well as among Health Students in the Najran region of South-Western Saudi Arabia, respectively.…”

An Institutional Review of Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Medical Students Regarding Hepatitis B and C: A Cross-sectional Study

“…Medical students were also inquired about their reasons for not being vaccinated. A number of KAP surveys regarding hepatitis B and C have been carried out on medical students in the past (14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24). In this study, when asked about previous screening 54.6% were never screened for hepatitis B and 56.5% were never screened for hepatitis C. These percentages are higher as compared to results of Olusegun Adekanle et al in 2014 which showed lack of screening awareness among medical students (8).…”

“…Prevention is the key to tackle hepatitis B and C which includes standard Universal precautions (11), prophylactic vaccination and standard treatment (12)(13)(14). Medical students are high-risk group (15) due to lack of screening and post vaccination screening programs (16). A number of studies have been conducted to assess knowledge, attitude and practices of healthcare workers regarding hepatitis.…”