Determining the Knowledge Level on Safe Sex and the Attitude towards Sexual Consent among Medical Students in Malaysia: A Cross-sectional Study
Published: 2022-07-11
Page: 234- 247
Issue: 2022 - Volume 5 [Issue 2]
Daniel Dashanraj *
Faculty of Medicine, Manipal University College Malaysia, Jalan Batu Hampar, 75150, Bukit Baru, Melaka, Malaysia.
Thuvaraky Sureshkumar
Faculty of Medicine, Manipal University College Malaysia, Jalan Batu Hampar, 75150, Bukit Baru, Melaka, Malaysia.
Sivanesvary Selvanathan
Faculty of Medicine, Manipal University College Malaysia, Jalan Batu Hampar, 75150, Bukit Baru, Melaka, Malaysia.
Sih Wei Mei
Faculty of Medicine, Manipal University College Malaysia, Jalan Batu Hampar, 75150, Bukit Baru, Melaka, Malaysia.
Htoo Htoo Kyaw Soe
Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Manipal University College Malaysia, Jalan Batu Hampar, 75150, Bukit Baru, Melaka, Malaysia.
Soe Moe
Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Manipal University College Malaysia, Jalan Batu Hampar, 75150, Bukit Baru, Melaka, Malaysia.
Neena Chuni
Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine, Manipal University College Malaysia, Jalan Batu Hampar, 75150, Bukit Baru, Melaka, Malaysia.
Mila Nu Nu Htay
Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Manipal University College Malaysia, Jalan Batu Hampar, 75150, Bukit Baru, Melaka, Malaysia.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Introduction: Medical students are the future health educators of the public; hence it becomes essential for us to be empowered with accurate and sufficient knowledge on safe sex and sexual consent as the sparsity of the knowledge among the population leads to detrimental implications.
Aim: This study aimed to investigate knowledge regarding safe sex, factors associated with the knowledge on safe sex, as well as to identify the attitude on sexual consent among medical students.
Study Design: A cross-sectional analytical study
Methodology: This study was conducted from April 2022 to May 2022 among undergraduate medical students (MBBS) in a private medical university in Malaysia. The respondents were recruited by purposive sampling and self-administered validated questionnaire was used for data collection. The data was analyzed using Epi Info software (version 7.2.5.0). The descriptive statistics was calculated as frequency, percentage, and mean. The Chi-square test was used in inferential statistics.
Results: There were 140 students who agreed to participate in this study. After the data analysis, 61.7% of the students have good knowledge on safe sex, and 72.34% of the students have good attitude towards sexual consent. There were no statistically significant association between age, gender, ethnicity, semester of study, country of origin and the knowledge of safe sex, attitude towards sexual consent, and sources of information of safe sex. Furthermore, the most sourced out for safe sex related information are from schools/ universities followed by health talks/ seminars/ webinars, online sources, friends, and lastly parents and siblings.
Conclusion: Our study has demonstrated societal significance between gender and age against the knowledge level on safe sex and attitude level towards sexual consent. This reinforces that sex education which includes safe sex and sexual consent should be inculcated into the general education syllabus for the betterment of the society as a whole in terms of sexual well-being.
Keywords: Safe sex, sex education, medical students, knowledge on safe sex, attitude towards sexual consent