Attitudes and perceptions regarding sexual health history taking; a cross-sectional study among undergraduate medical students of college of medicine and health sciences, Oman.
Source
Biomedical and Pharmacology Journal. v. 15, 2, p. 945-949
Author
Raj, Priyanka C. K.
Publisher
Oriental Scientific Publishing Company.
English abstract
Background: Sexual health has been recognised as an essential dimension of health. Therefore, sexual health training of health care providers assumes a significant role. The present study was conducted to assess the attitudes and perceptions of final-year medical students regarding sexual health history taking at a medical college in Oman. Methods: The present cross-sectional survey was conducted among 81 final-year medical students. Demographic characteristics, attitudes and perceptions of the participants regarding sexual health history taking were collected using a self-administered questionnaire after obtaining informed consent. Prior approval was obtained from the institutional research and ethics committee. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS 20.0 Results: The mean age of the participants was 24.19 ± 1.03 years. Most of the participants (97.6%) opined that it was important for doctors to know how to elicit a sexual health history. Most of the participants were aware of their limitations in eliciting sexual health history and recognizing gender and cultural differences (67.9%) as barriers while communicating sexual health problems with the patients. About 50%of the participants responded that they had satisfactory understanding of sexual health (50.7%); a similar number had an adequate understanding of sexual health problems (53.1%). Majority (65.4 %) of the participants were interested in learning about sexual health. Conclusion: The present study revealed that medical students recognised the importance of sexual health history taking and their strengths and limitations regarding the same. The study revealed the barriers to effective communication between students and patients in matters of sexual health, which pave the way to improve teaching-learning programs and ultimately contribute to providing effective holistic health care.
