Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare (May 2021)
Correlation of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Toward Probiotics for the Digestive System Among Health Science Students
Abstract
Pinka Alia Rahmah,1 Astrid Feinisa Khairani,2 Nur Atik,2 Nita Arisanti,3 Siti Nur Fatimah3 1Undergradute Program, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Padjadjaran, West Java, Indonesia; 2Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Padjadjaran, West Java, Indonesia; 3Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Padjadjaran, West Java, IndonesiaCorrespondence: Astrid Feinisa KhairaniDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Padjadjaran, Jalan Raya Bandung – Sumedang Km 21.6 Jatinangor, Sumedang, West Java, 45363, IndonesiaTel +62 22 7795594Email [email protected]: Probiotics have numerous health benefits to the digestive system, one of them being clinically able to prevent and treat diarrhea. The growing scientific evidence of probiotic benefits has led to increased production of probiotic products. Health science students, as future healthcare professionals (HCPs), should have more knowledge about probiotics to be able to give the right recommendation to their future patients and the larger community. This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice towards probiotics of health science students in Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 87 students from Medical Studies, Midwifery, Pharmacy, and Nursing majors in 2020. Proportional cluster random sampling was used to select the study subjects, and an online survey was used to collect the data. Final data were exported to statistics software for analysis. Scores of each variable were categorized. Kruskal–Wallis test was used to analyze the statistical differences among the four groups. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to analyze the relationship between knowledge, attitude, and practice variables.Results: Of all respondents, 80% had adequate knowledge. More than half (52.9%) had a positive attitude, and most (62.1%) had a positive practice. There were significant correlations between knowledge-attitude and attitude-practice variables. Most respondents gained information on probiotics from the Internet (26%) and their lecturer (24%). P-value from Kruskal–Wallis test for knowledge, attitude, and practice are 0.466, 0.801, and 0.324, respectively.Conclusion: Most respondents had an adequate level of knowledge, a positive attitude, and a positive practice towards probiotics. Incorporating scientific evidence regarding probiotics from various studies into all health science majors’ academic curricula and media may help equip the students with a better understanding of probiotics, therefore improving probiotics usage to prevent and treat digestive system diseases in the future.Keywords: probiotics, knowledge, attitude, practice, Indonesia
