Knowledge and attitudes of the third year medical students in a university about sexually transmitted diseases and prevention methods

• Main Authors: Hüseyin Can, Gülseren Pamuk, Esra Meltem Koç, Hafize Gamze Özkan, Bayram Okol, İlknur Kırdar, Hasan Demirbaşoğlu, Zeynep Özün Altınay, Bünyamin Akça
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SERNEV 2016-08-01
• Series: Family Practice and Palliative Care
• Subjects: sexually transmitted disease; prevention methods; attitude; knowledge; student; cinsel yolla bulaşan hastalıklar; korunma yöntemleri; tutum; bilgi; öğrenci
• Online Access: https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/fppc/issue/24207/256692

Introduction: The passage from childhood to adulthood is the period when health habits and sexual behaviors start to form. Thus, the topics of sexual health and reproductive health should be approached with priority during this period. The objective of the study is to evaluate the knowledge and behavior of students of the medical faculty with respect to sexually transmitted diseases and prevention methods.Methods: The questionnaire that contains 23 headings created by the researchers after relevant literature reviews was administered to the third-semester students of the Izmir Katip Celebi University Medical Faculty in face-to-face interviews after obtaining their verbal consent. The study data was analyzed using the SPSS 20.0 demo software bundle. Conditions in which the p-value was under 0.05 were regarded as statistically significant.Results: The mean age of the students that participated in the study (n=104) was 21.88 ± 1.9 years of age, 51% (n=53) of the students were female, and 49.0% (n=51) were male. Among the students, 93% stated that they had received education about preventing pregnancy. Two of the  most well-known prevention methods by the participants were condoms in 99.0% (n=103) and oral contraceptives in 95.2% (n=99). The rate of correct answers given about all of the risk factors for sexually transmitted diseases (sex workers, polygamy, homosexuality, being sexually active, substance addiction) was 22.1% (n=23).Conclusion: Identifying the level of knowledge in the youth about STDs in early periods, determining the services they require, cooperating with related institutions to review the adequacy of information online, and educating youth about STDs are important in preventing these diseases and also in the treatment of existing diseases before they lead to more problems.