A STUDY TO ASSESS KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS ABOUT THE HEPATITIS B AND C AMONG NURSING COLLEGE STUDENTS OF CENTRAL INDIA

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.