Evaluation of the knowledge and attitudes of health professionals working in public hospitals in Alanya regarding health tourism

This study was conducted to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of health professionals working in a public hospital in the Alanya district of Antalya province towards health tourism. In this section of the study, the findings obtained were interpreted and compared with other studies on the subject. The universe of the study consisted of 1500 health professionals working in the hospital where the study was conducted. The sample of the study consisted of 306 people determined by the sample calculation made at a significance level of 5% and a sampling error of 5%. The data of the study were collected with the introductory information form created by the researcher and the Public Attitude Scale Towards the Development of Health Tourism. In the statistical analyses, the number, percentage, mean, standard deviation, minimum - maximum values were used in the analysis of the introductory characteristics of the individuals. Independent groups t-test, one-way analysis of variance (Anova) and post hoc (Tukey, LSD) analyses were used in the examination of the differences in the scale levels according to the descriptive characteristics of the participants. Of the individuals participating in the study, 44.4% (136) are aged 30 and under, 52.9% (162) are female, 50.7% (155) are single, and 95.4% (144) have a nuclear family structure. It was determined that 69.0% of the participants thought that people living in Alanya did not have health tourism knowledge, and 36.6% thought that health professionals also did not have health tourism knowledge. When the scores of health professionals on the "Public Attitude Scale Towards the Development of Health Tourism" were examined, it was seen that the total scale score average was 81.59±12.30, the "contribution to the country" average was 37.63±4.62, the "service justice" average was 24.29±5.66, and the "receiving quality service" average was 19.670±4.243. As a result of the research, it was determined that health professionals have knowledge about health tourism but it is not at the desired level, while their scores for the development of health tourism are high but insufficient. Based on this research, it is recommended that information for health professionals working in the tourism region be provided within the scope of in-service training to be given within the institutions.