Are medical students confident in taking a sexual history? An assessment on attitude and skills from an upper middle income country
| Autor: | Verna Kar Mun Lee, Mohammad Rodi Isa, Farnaza Ariffin, Maizatullifah Miskan, Ken Lee Chin, Chirk Jenn Ng |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2015 |
| Předmět: |
Male
medicine.medical_specialty Health Knowledge Attitudes Practice Medical psychology Students Medical Attitude of Health Personnel Sexual Behavior education General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology Young Adult Cronbach's alpha Surveys and Questionnaires Medicine Cross-cultural Sexual history Training Humans Young adult Schools Medical Reproductive health Medicine(all) Undergraduate Medical education Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology(all) business.industry Skills Malaysia General Medicine Medical students Reproductive Health Attitude Family medicine Perception Female business Know-how Cultural competence Medical ethics Research Article Education Medical Undergraduate |
| Zdroj: | BMC Research Notes |
| ISSN: | 1756-0500 |
| Popis: | Background Sexual history training during undergraduate education is essential for preparing future doctors to handle patients’ sexual health concerns. The purpose of this study was to assess the attitudes and perceptions of final-year medical students in Malaysia toward sexual history taking and the training they receive from their medical schools. Methods The study used a cross-sectional survey of 379 final-year medical students from three medical schools in Malaysia. Students were asked to rate their attitudes and perceptions regarding training on taking sexual histories using a newly developed questionnaire with good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.73). Ethics approval was obtained from the relevant medical schools, and the statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS, Version 20.0. Results The mean age of participants was 23.58 ± 0.65 SD. Participants reported high interest in sexual health and felt it was important for doctors to know how to take a sexual history (95%). Among the participants, only half felt comfortable in taking sexual histories from patients. The participants identified cultural and religious differences between the doctor and the patient as a potential barrier for discussing sexual health. Participants were aware of their own practice and ability, as well as their limitations, in taking sexual histories. Less than half (46%) felt that the training they received adequately prepared them to take sexual histories. Conclusions This study identified gaps in sexual health training among medical schools in Malaysia. The delivery of sexual health education program should incorporate confidence building and to make students feel comfortable to take sexual histories from patients. The barrier caused by differences in culture or religion between a doctor and a patient may be overcome through cross cultural and cultural competency training. This is important for multi-faith, multi cultural societies such as Malaysia and other similar countries. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|
Full text from SpringerLink