Awareness of H1N1 influenza among Pakistani pharmacy students

Abstract

Aim — This study was aimed to investigate knowledge and attitudes of H1N1 influenza among pharmacy students. Material and Methods — A cross-sectional study was carried out among undergraduate and postgraduate students of the Punjab University College of Pharmacy, University of the Punjab, Lahore from February-May 2018. A self-administered questionnaire was used to evaluate knowledge and attitudes of H1N1 influenza. All data were analyzed using SPSS 22. Results — The median age of study participants (N=420) was 20 years, with majority of females (72.4%), undergraduate students (96.7%) belonging to middle economic class (89.8%). The median knowledge score was 18, with 38.1% having poor, 55.7% moderate and 6.2% excellent knowledge score (score <17, 17-25, and 26-34, respectively). The median attitude score was 47 (9); around 52% of the participants were found to have positive attitudes. Initially, there was a significant difference of knowledge score, not attitude, among age categories. However, in post hoc analysis, after Bonferroni adjustment (P<0.017), individuals > 26 years of age had better knowledge scores than 21-25 years (p=0.015) and ≤20 years (p=0.005) age categories. Gender had no significant influence on the knowledge as well as attitude score. Futhermore, postgraduate students had signifcanlty better knowledge scores, not attitude, than undergraduates (p=0.002). Conclusions — Our findings highlight the need to equip pharmacy students with comprehensive knowledge of H1N1 influenza so that in future they can help increase the public awareness at community pharmacies, hospitals or the communities they reside.