Assessing nursing students’ sex knowledge and sexual attitudes: implications for primary health care

Introduction Health professionals, especially nurses, in primary care setting are considered most appropriate for providing sexual health care. To provide quality sexual health care, nurses should have adequate sex knowledge and hold positive attitude towards sexuality. However, nurses’ perceived i...

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Main Authors: Hoi, Nga Ng, Kam, Weng Boey
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2020
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15308/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15308/1/255-Article%20Text-1387-3-10-20200414.pdf
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author Hoi, Nga Ng
Kam, Weng Boey
author_facet Hoi, Nga Ng
Kam, Weng Boey
author_sort Hoi, Nga Ng
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Introduction Health professionals, especially nurses, in primary care setting are considered most appropriate for providing sexual health care. To provide quality sexual health care, nurses should have adequate sex knowledge and hold positive attitude towards sexuality. However, nurses’ perceived inadequate knowledge and negative attitudes towards sexuality were reported to be two major barriers to sexual health care, yet little is known about these barriers among nursing students in Hong Kong. This study was conducted to examine sex knowledge and attitudes towards sexuality among nursing students in Hong Kong. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on the first year nursing students (N= 258) who were recruited to participate via convenience sampling. The General Sexual Knowledge Scale (GSKS) and Attitude towards Sexuality Scale (ATSS) were used to collect data for this study. The data were analysed by descriptive statistics and independent t-test. Results Sex knowledge was 10.4 ± 3.5 and sexual attitude was 32.9 ± 4.6 indicating nursing students’ sex knowledge was poor and their sexual attitudes were neutral. Sex knowledge was positively related to the sexual attitudes (r = 0.47, p < .01). The attitudes were more liberal in students aged 20 years old or above than students aged 19 or below. Sexual attitudes were also more liberal among students who did not reported religious affiliation than students who did. Conclusions Knowledge and positive attitudes regarding human sexuality needed to be promoted among nursing students. Findings from this study provided useful information in preparing nursing students to render high quality sexual health care in primary care settings.
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spelling oai:generic.eprints.org:153082020-10-02T08:32:52Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15308/ Assessing nursing students’ sex knowledge and sexual attitudes: implications for primary health care Hoi, Nga Ng Kam, Weng Boey Introduction Health professionals, especially nurses, in primary care setting are considered most appropriate for providing sexual health care. To provide quality sexual health care, nurses should have adequate sex knowledge and hold positive attitude towards sexuality. However, nurses’ perceived inadequate knowledge and negative attitudes towards sexuality were reported to be two major barriers to sexual health care, yet little is known about these barriers among nursing students in Hong Kong. This study was conducted to examine sex knowledge and attitudes towards sexuality among nursing students in Hong Kong. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on the first year nursing students (N= 258) who were recruited to participate via convenience sampling. The General Sexual Knowledge Scale (GSKS) and Attitude towards Sexuality Scale (ATSS) were used to collect data for this study. The data were analysed by descriptive statistics and independent t-test. Results Sex knowledge was 10.4 ± 3.5 and sexual attitude was 32.9 ± 4.6 indicating nursing students’ sex knowledge was poor and their sexual attitudes were neutral. Sex knowledge was positively related to the sexual attitudes (r = 0.47, p < .01). The attitudes were more liberal in students aged 20 years old or above than students aged 19 or below. Sexual attitudes were also more liberal among students who did not reported religious affiliation than students who did. Conclusions Knowledge and positive attitudes regarding human sexuality needed to be promoted among nursing students. Findings from this study provided useful information in preparing nursing students to render high quality sexual health care in primary care settings. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2020 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15308/1/255-Article%20Text-1387-3-10-20200414.pdf Hoi, Nga Ng and Kam, Weng Boey (2020) Assessing nursing students’ sex knowledge and sexual attitudes: implications for primary health care. International Journal of Public Health Research, 10 (1). pp. 1148-1157. ISSN 2232-0245 http://spaj.ukm.my/ijphr/index.php/ijphr/issue/view/26
spellingShingle Hoi, Nga Ng
Kam, Weng Boey
Assessing nursing students’ sex knowledge and sexual attitudes: implications for primary health care
title Assessing nursing students’ sex knowledge and sexual attitudes: implications for primary health care
title_full Assessing nursing students’ sex knowledge and sexual attitudes: implications for primary health care
title_fullStr Assessing nursing students’ sex knowledge and sexual attitudes: implications for primary health care
title_full_unstemmed Assessing nursing students’ sex knowledge and sexual attitudes: implications for primary health care
title_short Assessing nursing students’ sex knowledge and sexual attitudes: implications for primary health care
title_sort assessing nursing students’ sex knowledge and sexual attitudes: implications for primary health care
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15308/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15308/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/15308/1/255-Article%20Text-1387-3-10-20200414.pdf