Assessment of knowledge, awareness and attitude towards hepatitis B and human immunodeficiency virus among dental students: A cross-sectional study at Karachi, Pakistan

In this study, the attitude, knowledge and awareness of the dental students of Karachi were evaluated on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV). Cross-sectional and non-experimental study was carried out on 377 dental students. Data were analyzed using PASW v.18 and Minitab 11 statistical software. Mean ± standard error of mean (SEM) was used to represent participant’s scores. Spearmen correlation coefficient (R) was used to test the association of variables. Regression analysis and scatter plot was also used to represent the score wise association of variables. 71% was the total return rate of questionnaire in which 18.2% were male and 81.2% were female dental students. The mean age was 20.93 ± 0.1. Cronbach’s alpha (α) value was 88%. The attitude score was 22.66 ± 0.22, knowledge was 23.12 ± 0.25 and awareness was 16.12 ± 0.14. Total aggregated score was 61.89 ± 0.54 and Spearman R coefficient of all these variables showed strong positive direct association (P < 0.0001). Regression analysis and scatter plots also verify the aforementioned impacts. Findings conclude that, majority of the respondents have positive attitude with good knowledge and awareness towards the aforementioned infections which definitely contribute to its prevention as well as transmission.   Key words: Attitude, awareness, hepatitis B, human immunodeficiency virus, knowledge.