{"title":"Evaluation of Attitudes and Knowledge Levels of Medical Faculty Students about Probiotics","authors":"F. Cihan","doi":"10.30733/std.2023.01690","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Aim: Probiotics are natural products with proven benefits in the prevention and treatment of many diseases, with relatively few side effects. \nThe study aimed to assess medical students' knowledge, attitudes and usage habits about probiotics.\n Materials and Methods: This descriptive study comprised final-year medical students in the academic year 2019-2020. Preliminary information \nabout the study was given to the participants, and their verbal consent was obtained. A questionnaire prepared by the researchers in line with \nthe literature evaluating socio-demographic characteristics, probiotic food consumption and knowledge about probiotics was applied to the \nparticipants. \nResults: The mean age of 229 students (78.4%) who participated in the study was 24.24±1.61 years and 58.1% were female. Of the \nparticipants, 92.6% stated that they knew the term 'probiotic', 44.1% indicated that they knew the microorganism content of probiotic foods, \nand 54.2% did not consume probiotic-containing foods. The most common reasons for taking probiotics were 'digestive benefits' (42.4%) \nand 'boosting the immune system' (26.6%), while the most common reason for not taking probiotics was 'not needed'. In the study, 51.5% of \nstudents said they would recommend probiotic foods to their peers and patients, and the most common reason for recommendation was \nconstipation (73.4%). The participants had a mean probiotic knowledge score of 52.41±8.70 (20-76) points. There was no relationship between \nmale students' (51.34±9.05) and female students' knowledge levels (53.26±8.38) (p=0.101). \nConclusion: The level of knowledge about probiotics, the consumption of probiotics and the attitude towards recommending probiotics among \nthe Faculty of Medicine senior students were found to be moderate. Consumption of probiotics by healthy or sick people should be done on \nthe advice of trained physicians\n Keywords: Probiotic, Medical Student, Knowledge, Attitude","PeriodicalId":332557,"journal":{"name":"Selcuk Tip Dergisi","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Selcuk Tip Dergisi","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.30733/std.2023.01690","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Aim: Probiotics are natural products with proven benefits in the prevention and treatment of many diseases, with relatively few side effects.
The study aimed to assess medical students' knowledge, attitudes and usage habits about probiotics.
Materials and Methods: This descriptive study comprised final-year medical students in the academic year 2019-2020. Preliminary information
about the study was given to the participants, and their verbal consent was obtained. A questionnaire prepared by the researchers in line with
the literature evaluating socio-demographic characteristics, probiotic food consumption and knowledge about probiotics was applied to the
participants.
Results: The mean age of 229 students (78.4%) who participated in the study was 24.24±1.61 years and 58.1% were female. Of the
participants, 92.6% stated that they knew the term 'probiotic', 44.1% indicated that they knew the microorganism content of probiotic foods,
and 54.2% did not consume probiotic-containing foods. The most common reasons for taking probiotics were 'digestive benefits' (42.4%)
and 'boosting the immune system' (26.6%), while the most common reason for not taking probiotics was 'not needed'. In the study, 51.5% of
students said they would recommend probiotic foods to their peers and patients, and the most common reason for recommendation was
constipation (73.4%). The participants had a mean probiotic knowledge score of 52.41±8.70 (20-76) points. There was no relationship between
male students' (51.34±9.05) and female students' knowledge levels (53.26±8.38) (p=0.101).
Conclusion: The level of knowledge about probiotics, the consumption of probiotics and the attitude towards recommending probiotics among
the Faculty of Medicine senior students were found to be moderate. Consumption of probiotics by healthy or sick people should be done on
the advice of trained physicians
Keywords: Probiotic, Medical Student, Knowledge, Attitude