Assessment of infectious disease risk awareness and influencing factors among medical faculty students

Infectious diseases continue to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. It is critically important for medical students, who will be an important part of health services in the future, to have sufficient knowledge and awareness on this subject for the effectiveness of protection strategies at the individual and societal levels. This study aimed to determine medical students' levels of risk awareness regarding infectious diseases and to evaluate the sociodemographic and educational factors affecting this awareness. This cross-sectional, descriptive study included 426 medical students enrolled at Eskişehir Osmangazi University. To collect data, a 26-item sociodemographic data form and the Infectious Disease Risk Awareness and Prevention Scale, consisting of 36 items, were administered. The mean score on the Infectious Disease Risk Awareness and Prevention Scale for the participants was found to be 136.2±18.8. Our study found that individuals of female gender had significantly higher levels of risk awareness. In addition, it was determined that risk awareness increased with grade level and age. It was determined that risk awareness levels were higher among those who were concerned about contracting infectious diseases, those who considered themselves to have sufficient knowledge about protection against infectious diseases, those who thought they had a level of knowledge that could contribute to informing the public on this issue, those who had taken courses on infectious diseases and ways of protection, and individuals who had been vaccinated during the COVID-19 period. Developing the awareness levels of medical students, who will be the health professionals of the future, plays an important role in terms of the contributions it can make to protecting public health.