Analisis Tingkat Pengetahuan Mahasiswa Kesehatan Universitas Sumatera Utara tentang Penyakit Paru Obstruktif Kronik

Abstract

Background: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a chronic disease characterized by airflow limitation in the airways that is not fully reversible. Objectives: To determine the level of knowledge level of health students of the University of Sumatera Utara (USU) about COPD and to determine the factors that influence the level of knowledge of students about COPD. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted by collecting data through filling out a validated questionnaire containing 25 questions about definition, diagnosis, clinical symptoms and therapy with a score of 4 for each question and a maximum score of 100. This study involved 340 respondents from the Faculty of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Dentistry, Faculty of Nursing, and Faculty of Public Health at USU. Data were analyzed using univariate and bivariate methods in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22 program. The category of students’ knowledge was considered as good if the score was >75, fair was 60-75, and bad was <60. Results: The mean knowledge of the students was 89.4. The distribution of students’ level of knowledge about COPD was 91.2% good, 7.0% fair, and 1.8% bad. The Chi-Square test showed that the level of student knowledge was significantly influenced by gender and the faculty (p ≤ 0.05), while the source of information did not influence the level of student knowledge (p ≥ 0.05). Conclusion: This research proved that the majority of health students’ knowledge level at USU regarding COPD was classified as good. Gender and faculty factors affected the students’ level of knowledge.