title: Are medical students confident in taking a sexual history? An assessment on attitude and skills from an upper middle income country.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sexual history training during undergraduate education is essential for preparing future doctors to handle patients' sexual health concerns. The purpose of this study was to assess the attitudes and perceptions of final-year medical students in Malaysia toward sexual history taking and the training they receive from their medical schools.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study used a cross-sectional survey of 379 final-year medical students from three medical schools in Malaysia. Students were asked to rate their attitudes and perceptions regarding training on taking sexual histories using a newly developed questionnaire with good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.73). Ethics approval was obtained from the relevant medical schools, and the statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS, Version 20.0.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of participants was 23.58 ± 0.65 SD. Participants reported high interest in sexual health and felt it was important for doctors to know how to take a sexual history (95%). Among the participants, only half felt comfortable in taking sexual histories from patients. The participants identified cultural and religious differences between the doctor and the patient as a potential barrier for discussing sexual health. Participants were aware of their own practice and ability, as well as their limitations, in taking sexual histories. Less than half (46%) felt that the training they received adequately prepared them to take sexual histories.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study identified gaps in sexual health training among medical schools in Malaysia. The delivery of sexual health education program should incorporate confidence building and to make students feel comfortable to take sexual histories from patients. The barrier caused by differences in culture or religion between a doctor and a patient may be overcome through cross cultural and cultural competency training. This is important for multi-faith, multi cultural societies such as Malaysia and other similar countries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sungai Buloh, Malaysia. Farnaza@salam.uitm.edu.my.
authors.forename: Farnaza
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ariffin
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia. ken_usm@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Ken Lee
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Chin
authors.affiliation: Department of Primary Care Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ngcj@um.edu.my.
authors.forename: ChirkJenn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sungai Buloh, Malaysia. maizatullifahmiskan73@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Maizatullifah
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miskan
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, International Medical University, Bukit Jalil, Malaysia. verna.lee69@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Verna KarMun
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia. demangsura@yahoo.co.uk.
authors.forename: Mohammad Rodi
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Isa
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate / Q000941:ethics; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D060728:Reproductive Health / Q000941:ethics*; D012577:Schools, Medical / Q000941:ethics; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000941:ethics / Q000523:psychology*; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult