European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

EVALUATION OF KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PERCEPTION OF MEDICAL, DENTAL AND PHARMACY STUDENTS IN AIMST UNIVERSITY ON THE PROGRESS OF AMYOTROPHIC LATERAL SCLEROSIS (ALS)

Yeoh Ching Ching*, Muhammad Zahid Iqbal and Muhammad Shahid Iqbal

ABSTRACT

The objective of the study is to evaluate the knowledge, attitude and perception of medical, dental and pharmacy students in AIMST University on the progress of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Collection and organization of data were analyzed and interpreted accordingly. A cross-sectional observational study on a convenient random sample of 268 students from AIMST University was conducted by using pretested and validated questionnaires to gather information on the attitude, knowledge and perception of medical, pharmacy and dental students. Of the 268 respondents in AIMST University, 85 of the respondents were male (31.7%) and 183 of them were female (68.3%). For the evaluation of attitude, majority of respondents from all the three faculties were giving positive attitude. Results showed that 171 (93.4%) of females were giving positive attitude more than the males. For the evaluation of knowledge and perception, males (38.8%) were having more adequate knowledge than females (30.6%). Among all races that participated in the study, Indians (36.0%) were having the most adequate knowledge than other races on ALS disease. Among the Faculty of Medicine, Pharmacy and Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine (37.3%) was having the most adequate knowledge than other faculties. Year 3 and Year 4 respondents were having almost same percentage of adequate knowledge, that was 33.7% and 33.8% respectively. In addition, non-hostellers (48.2%) were having more adequate knowledge than hostellers (26.5%). In the aspect of educational background, respondents from A-Level (57.1%) were having the most adequate knowledge among other educational backgrounds.

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