Attitudes, Concerns, Perceived Impact and Coping Strategies for Avian Influenza Among the First Year Medical Students and Interns in Tehran University of Medical Sciences

• Main Authors: Aliashraf Eghbali, Morteza Naderan, Soheila Dabiran, Masoumeh Sadat Sabzevary, Hamid Emadi Koochak, Payman Salamati
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Tehran University of Medical Sciences 2012
• Subjects: Attitude; Avian influenza; Disease outbreak; Medical students; Medicine (General); R5-920; Avian flu
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/fa2fd30951f24d1291b92c9a7719be49

To study and compare the attitudes, concerns, perceived impact and coping strategies for avian influenza (AI) among the first year medical students (FYMS) ‎and interns in Tehran University of Medical Sciences. This was a cross sectional study carried out on FYMS (n=158) and interns (n=158) in 2008. The data collection tool was a questionnaire containing 37 questions in five parts. The three choices including "agree, disagree and unsure" were considered for all questions. We used Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests for analysis. Most of FYMS and interns (78.2%) believed their health would be depended on the care of their selves. Most of them (95.3%) believed that if they knew avian flu better, they could be more prepared for it. The majority were concerned about risk to their health from their work (62.7%). Most (67.7%) accepted the risk and only 5 (1.6%) would consider stopping work. For non-work concerns, 70.9% were concerned about their spouses/sexual partners and 65.8% about their children. For perceived impact, most (66.5%) believed that they would feel stressed at work and the majority (74.4%) expected an increased workload. FYMS and interns have positive attitudes but major concerns about contracting AI and its relation to medical practice.