title: Attitudes, concerns, perceived impact and coping strategies for avian influenza among the first year medical students and interns in Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
abstract: To study and compare the attitudes, concerns, perceived impact and coping strategies for avian influenza (AI) among the first year medical students (FYMS) ‎and interns in Tehran University of Medical Sciences. This was a cross sectional study carried out on FYMS (n=158) and interns (n=158) in 2008. The data collection tool was a questionnaire containing 37 questions in five parts. The three choices including "agree, disagree and unsure" were considered for all questions. We used Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests for analysis. Most of FYMS and interns (78.2%) believed their health would be depended on the care of their selves. Most of them (95.3%) believed that if they knew avian flu better, they could be more prepared for it. The majority were concerned about risk to their health from their work (62.7%). Most (67.7%) accepted the risk and only 5 (1.6%) would consider stopping work. For non-work concerns, 70.9% were concerned about their spouses/sexual partners and 65.8% about their children. For perceived impact, most (66.5%) believed that they would feel stressed at work and the majority (74.4%) expected an increased workload. FYMS and interns have positive attitudes but major concerns about contracting AI and its relation to medical practice.
authors.affiliation: Sina Trauma and Surgery Research Center, Tehran University of Medical sciences, Tehran, Iran. psalamati@sina.tums.ac.ir
authors.forename: Payman
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Salamati
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Emadi Koochak
authors.forename: Soheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dabiran
authors.forename: Masoumeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sadat Sabzevary
authors.forename: Morteza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Naderan
authors.forename: Aliashraf
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eghbali
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D053124:Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000821:virology; D007396:Internship and Residency; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires