Are medical students confident in taking a sexual history? An assessment on attitude and skills from an upper middle income country

BMC Research Notes

Mohammad Rodi Isa²  Verna KarMun Lee¹  Maizatullifah Miskan⁴  ChirkJenn Ng³  Ken Lee Chin⁵  Farnaza Ariffin⁴ 

[1] Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, International Medical University, Bukit Jalil, Malaysia;Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia;Department of Primary Care Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sungai Buloh, Malaysia;Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia

关键词: Training;    Skills;    Perception;    Attitude;    Undergraduate;    Medical students;    Sexual history;   

Others  :  1231956
DOI  :  10.1186/s13104-015-1220-y

 received in 2014-08-04, accepted in 2015-06-02,  发布年份 2015

【 摘 要 】

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.

【 授权许可】

   
2015 Ariffin et al.

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