KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES (KAP) STUDY AMONG MEDICAL AND DENTAL STUDENTS REGARDING HEPATITIS B VACCINATION
Keywords:
Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices, Medical, Dental, Hepatitis B, VaccinationAbstract
Objective: To ascertain the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices of medical and dental students regarding
vaccination against Hepatitis B virus.
Material and Methods: This descriptive research work was conducted among medical and dental students from
Khyber Medical College and Khyber College of Dentistry Peshawar, Pakistan respectively from January 2017 to May,
2017. Male and female students from all academic years were recruited in the study. After informed consent, students
were requested to fill in a pre-formed questionnaire. Data was collected in Microsoft excel and then tabulated using
Microsoft excel. Results were tabulated in the form of percentages.
Results: One hundred thirty-one (50.4%) male and 129 (49.6%) female medical (51.2%) and dental (48.8%) students
participated in the study. Their ages ranged from 19 to 24 years. Of these students, 112 (43.1%) had initiated vaccination
against Hepatitis B virus whereas 148 (56.9%) had not started vaccination. Of these, only 86 (33.1%) students completed
full Hepatitis B vaccination course. Among those who completed the course, majority of the students had enrolled in
the 0, 1, 2 month regimen of vaccination. Of all the students, only 28 (10.8%) received booster dose after completion
of vaccination. Only 8 (3.1%) of the students checked their anti Hbs Ab titers, but none of them remembered the exact
values of antibody levels. Seventy-six (29.2%) students had vaccinated their family members against Hepatitis B while
31 (11.9%) students had also vaccinated themselves against Hepatitis A virus infection of the 11 (4.2%) students who
were married, only 4 (1.5%) had checked their partner's Hepatitis B status.
Conclusion: Medical and dental students themselves are not much aware of the importance of vaccination and majority
have not vaccinated themselves against the virus. Not all who started vaccination managed to complete the course
and so their immunization status could also not be accurately ascertained.
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