Effect of Educational Intervention on Osteoporosis Knowledge among University Female Students in Quetta, Pakistan

Abstract

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Objective:</strong> The study intended to assess the impact of educational intervention on knowledge of osteoporosis among female university students of Quetta. <strong>Methods:</strong> This interventional study was conducted on female university students by using convenience sampling technique. A total of 163 female students were enrolled for the study, these are those female students who did not heard about the disease named as osteoporosis. These subjects were provided with a self-explanatory brochure that contains basic information regarding osteoporosis. The intervention was completely theoretical in nature. After two days interval participants were contacted again and asked to complete a pre-validated questionnaire containing 20 questions related to osteoporosis knowledge. Descriptive analysis was used to demonstrate the demographic characteristics of the study population. Inferential statistics (Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis tests and Wilcoxon mean rank test, p&lt;0.05) were used to assess the significance among study variables and to assess the impact of educational intervention on knowledge. <strong>Results:</strong> Average score of knowledge was 14.18 &plusmn; 2.7. Although educational intervention had a significant effect on knowledge cores of the respondents (Wilcoxon rank test p&lt;0.005) (considering the pre-intervention knowledge score as zero) certain demographic characteristics (academic degree and living status) does affect knowledge scores of the study respondents. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> Although adequate improvement of knowledge scores of osteoporosis was reported after educational intervention, yet efforts should be made to bring change in the attitudes and practices of the female students by the help of intensive educational programs based on behavioral learning theories for better disease knowledge and prevention. <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Key words:</strong> knowledge, Females students, Osteoporosis, Health education, Health policy.