The knowledge and opinions of freshman medical students on
reproductive health
Sinan Ozalp, Prof.MD* Omur Elcioglu,Assis Prof. PhD** Ilhami
Unluoglu,Prof.MD***
*
Osmangazi University Faculty of Medicine Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics
Eskisehir /Turkey
**
Osmangazi University Faculty of Medicine Department of Medical Ethics Eskisehir
/Turkey
***
Osmangazi University Faculty of Medicine Department of Family Medicine Eskisehir
/Turkey
The World Health Organization categorizes the age group of 10-19
as “adolescence” and the age group of 15-24 as “youth”. Approximately
21% of Turkish population is composed of the adolescent age group. The high rate
of adolescent age group in the total population results in giving priority to
health problems of adolescents within general health problems of the society.
Objectives: Because of, medical students have a
privileged position among university youth, the objective of this study is to
find out the knowledge and opinions of freshman medical students who are
expected to provide services with an integrated medical approach in the future,
so as to be able to follow up the changes of knowledge throughout their medical
education via further researches.
Design and Methods: The freshman medical students were
asked to fill in a 52-item survey in the first month of their education and
their answers were evaluated within the scope of this study.142 students replied
the surveys and the rate of participation to the research was 81,1% (n=175).
This is a cross-sectional study. While analyzing the data, arithmetic mean,
standard deviation, frequency and percentages were used to describe the
variables concerning the participants, and x2 test was used to find out whether
there is a statistically meaning relation between the demographical
characteristics of the participants and the variables. SPSS 10.0 program as used
for this purpose.
Results and Conclusions: The average age of students is
18,01 ±3,24. 97 students (68.3%) were born in an urban area and have lived in
cities for the most of their lives. 96 of the students participating in our
research (67.6%) heard about the concept of reproductive health this concept was
not assimilated sufficiently. 140 students (98.6%) heard about the concept of
family planning and 58 students defined it right. For the students, limiting the
size of families and raising healthy children are the primary objectives of
family planning. The male students involved in the research mentioned that the
most appropriate age of marriage for men should be a little bit older than women.
The students want to have 1-2 children in the future. The students born in a
rural area wish to have both female and male children more than the ones born in
urban areas. The students who lived in a rural area longer than an urban area
wish to have both female and male children more than the ones living longer in
urban areas. In Turkey adolescent have insufficient knowledge about reproductive
health. Some period of time is required for the acknowledgement and adoption of
new concepts. The general opinions and thoughts and their future perspectives
are influenced by the society in which they live.