Knowledge and attitude on umbilical cord blood stem cell therapy among bachelor nursing students in Lalitpur Metropolitan City

Abstract

Background: Stem cells are immature cells that have ability to mature into different types of functioning cells as needed by body. Umbilical cord blood is one of the richest sources of stem cells. It is vital for nurses to keep up-to-date of current advances in stem cell science and nurses can play crucial role in providing first-hand information to public about stem cell and umbilical cord blood banking. Therefore, this study is aimed to identify the knowledge and attitude regarding umbilical cord blood stem cell therapy among bachelor nursing students. Method: A descriptive cross sectional research design was used to assess the knowledge and attitude of 263 nurses studying bachelor in nursing science and post basic bachelor in nursing in different selected nursing college of Lalitpur metropolitan city. Multi stage cluster sampling was used to select respondents. Data was collected using self-developed self-administered google form questionnaire. Results: Most of the nurses had poor knowledge (49.4%) and few nurses had good knowledge (6.8%) however majority of nurses (93.9%) had favourable attitude regarding umbilical cord blood stem cell therapy. Regarding association between variable, there is no any association between knowledge level and attitude (p=0.224). Conclusion: Nurses had poor knowledge and favourable attitude regarding umbilical cord blood stem cell therapy. Keywords: Nurses,Stem cells, Umbilical cord blood