Young Women’s Knowledge and Beliefs about Osteoporosis

Knowledge, beliefs and practices regarding osteoporosis among female medical school entrants in Pakistan

BACKGROUND

Osteoporosis is a growing health problem around the world. The increasing incidence of osteoporotic fractures coupled with the lack of knowledge about the disease in the general community means that the disease is continuously increasing the burden on health sector and the general population. The purpose of the study is to assess knowledge, attitudes and practices about osteoporosis among female medical school entrants in Karachi.

METHODS

This is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted amongst 400 female medical school entrants of DOW University of Health Sciences (DUHS) and Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU). A pre validated questionnaire, Osteoporosis Knowledge Assessment Tool (OKAT), was distributed amongst the participants. A food frequency questionnaire was also distributed to determine calcium intake. Descriptive statistics and Chi square test were used to compare the two groups of students with SPSS (20.0) being utilized for analysis. A p value of <0.05 was considered as significant.

RESULTS

The mean age of the participants was 19.4 ± 1.2 years. Only 8.0% of the participants had a good score pertaining to knowledge about osteoporosis whereas majority of the participants (49.0%) had a poor score. Perceived susceptibility was low as only 14.0% of the participants believed that they were at a high risk for osteoporosis. The RDA for calcium was equal to or greater than 700 mg per day which was met by only 29.0% of the participants despite of the high motivation towards consuming a calcium rich diet. Exercise levels were insufficient in terms of both, duration and the recommended type of exercise. Only 12.0% of the participants engaged in exercises according to the recommended guidelines. Moreover, only 5.5% subjects were involved in definitive behaviors to improve bone health.

CONCLUSIONS

Participants possessed an insufficient knowledge of the disease and that too was not adequately applied in preventative practices. There is a serious lack of adoption of preventative practices for osteoporosis. This was primarily due to little appreciation of the seriousness of osteoporosis. Hence, this study highlights the dire need for awareness about practices and attitudes related to the disease. Furthermore, it could be of paramount importance to future studies conducted on practices and beliefs related to osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis knowledge and attitudes: a cross-sectional study among female nursing school students in Damascus

SUMMARY

This study was conducted to determine the level of osteoporosis knowledge and beliefs among nursing college students in Damascus. A worrying deficit of knowledge was found. They believed osteoporosis to be a serious disease but did not feel susceptible to or concerned about it. Innovative educational interventions should be considered.

PURPOSE

Increasing awareness, knowledge, and promoting healthy behaviors about osteoporosis and related risk factors are effective prevention measures for building and maintaining strong bone throughout the life-span. We hypothesized a lack of knowledge and unhealthy beliefs about osteoporosis among young women in our setting. The level of osteoporosis knowledge, beliefs, and behavior among nursing college students in Damascus was evaluated in this study.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted on a convenience sample of female young students seen at the nursing school. All students registered for the year 2011-2012 were included in the study. A self-administered questionnaire was implemented. The questionnaire included background information and both osteoporosis-related tools (Arabic version), namely the Osteoporosis Knowledge Assessment Tool (OKAT) and the Osteoporosis Health Belief Scale.

RESULTS

A total of 353 female students answered the questionnaire with a response rate of 98.3%. A worrying deficit of knowledge was found among surveyed Syrian young adult females with a total mean score of 7.9 (2.7) out of possible 20 points, being 39.6% of possible maximum score on the OKAT. Those young women believed osteoporosis to be a serious disease but did not feel susceptible to or concerned about the illness. Perceived moderate to high barriers to exercises and calcium intake indicated negative health beliefs.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings generally reveal poor knowledge about osteoporosis among nursing school female students at Damascus. Integration of osteoporosis in school curricula and public education efforts is urgently needed.

The reliability of the Arabic version of osteoporosis knowledge assessment tool (OKAT) and the osteoporosis health belief scale (OHBS)

Background

Knowledge and awareness about osteoporosis and its related risk factors are important contributors to osteoporosis preventive behavior. There is a need to assess the reliability of international osteoporosis-related knowledge and belief measurement tools in Arabic community. This study aimed to assess the reliability of the Arabic version of Osteoporosis Knowledge Assessment Tool (OKAT) and the Osteoporosis Health Belief Scale (OHBS) among Syrian women.

Methods

The study included two phases. The first phase included a forward and backward translation of the osteoporosis-related tools (OKAT and OHBS) followed by a pilot testing. The second phase was an assessment of the test-retest reliability of the tools among a convenience sample of one hundred working women at Damascus Faculty of Medicine and its teaching hospitals. For this purpose each instrument was administered twice to all women at an interval of two weeks. Data collection took place in the fall of 2011, and was facilitated by a trained interviewer whose task was to administer the tools and collect some background data from the women who consented to participate in the study.

Results

A total of one hundred women were recruited in this study for the reliability test-retest of the Arabic version of the tools. The mean age of studied women was 37.1 (SD = 8.4) years. Most of the women were married and nearly one-half of them had a university education. The internal consistency values for OHBS (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.806) as well as the OKAT (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.824) met the 0.7 Cronbach’s alpha value requirement. Item analysis did not necessitate any omissions in either tool. McNemar’s test identified only three items on the OKAT questionnaire that significantly differed from the test to the retest. The OKAT mean score (SD) for the test was 9.4 (2.6) and that for the re-test was 10.1 (2.9). Paired t test did not show significant difference (P = 0.068).

Conclusion

The Arabic version of both the Osteoporosis Knowledge Assessment Tool (OKAT) and the Osteoporosis Health Belief Scale (OHBS) was found to be reliable as well as acceptable. Further research is needed as to complete the validation of those tools and to use them at larger scale whether in knowledge assessment or in assessing interventions.

A Study on the Level of Awareness and Self-Efficacy of Osteoporosis in Young Women

PURPOSE

This study was done to determine the level of awareness and self-efficacy and their relationships to osteoporosis among young women.

METHODS

The participants were 309 young women living in Seoul. The data were collected using questionnaires from July to September 2009. The Osteoporosis Awareness Scale consists of five areas with a total of 31 questions and the Self-efficacy Scale consists of 18 questions. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe test and Pearson's correlation coefficients.

RESULTS

The average level for osteoporosis awareness was 2.22, of a possible 4.00 and significant difference were related to participants' previous encounter with any information about osteoporosis, behavior to prevent osteoporosis, experience of weight control, and frequency of vegetable and calcium-rich foods intake. The average level of self-efficacy for osteoporosis was 2.81, of a possible 4.00 and significant difference related to participants' educational level, occupation, behavior to prevent osteoporosis, smoking, method of weight control, regular exercise, and frequency of vegetable and calcium-rich foods intake. There were significant positive correlations among awareness and self-efficacy about osteoporosis.

CONCLUSION

This study suggests that health care professionals need to provide effective interventions for young women to enhance their osteoporosis awareness and self-efficacy for preventing osteoporosis.