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. 2025 Mar 11;25(1):366.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-024-06544-2.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding blood exposure accidents and eHealth literacy among Tunisian medical students: a cross-sectional study

Souhir Chelly  1 , Nihel Omri  2 , Zeineb Saadallah  2 , Asma Ammar  2 , Olfa Ezzi  2 , Mansour Njah  2 , Mohamed Mahjoub  2
Affiliations

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding blood exposure accidents and eHealth literacy among Tunisian medical students: a cross-sectional study

Souhir Chelly et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: Good knowledge, attitudes and practices towards Blood Exposure Accidents (BEA) are essential for their prevention with a significant correlation found between e-health literacy and KAP levels. We aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) and e-health literacy levels towards BEA and their potential associations among medical students at a Tunisian medical school.

Methods: We conducted a comprehensive cross-sectional study among undergraduate medical students at Ibn Al Jazzar Medical School in Sousse, Tunisia, using an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire. Students' e-health literacy was assessed using the validated French version of the Electronic Health Literacy Scale (eHEALS).

Results: A total of 580 medical students were enrolled with a mean age of 21.6 ± 1.2 years and female predominance (sex ratio = 0.36). Most respondents (70%) had received no BEA training, and almost the quarter (24.3%; CI 95%:20.7-27.9%) reported having been victims of BEA. Overall, the mean score of medical students' KAP was 19.98 with almost half (49.1%, CI95%:45-53.2%) achieving a good score. The mean eHEALS score was 28.22 ± 6.85. More than half (55.7%, CI95%:51.7-59.7%) achieved a high level of e-health literacy. Being enrolled in the second cycle of medical studies (AOR = 2.50, 95%CI: 1.40-4.30), and having inadequate knowledge of standard precautions (AOR = 1.58, 95%CI: 1.04-2.39) were the predictors of BEA, while having good KAP regarding BEA was a negative determinant (AOR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.39-0.89). In addition, having adequate knowledge of standard precautions (AOR = 1.57, 95% CI: 1.10-2.23) and having good knowledge of BEA (AOR = 1.63, 95% CI: 1.17-2.27) were the determinants of high levels of e-health literacy on BEA. Similarly, being adequately informed about the risks of BEA (AOR = 1.44, 95% CI: 1.01-2.06) was a positive determinant, whereas having a history of BEA (AOR = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.43-0.93) was a negative determinant of high levels of KAP.

Conclusion: Medical students showed good levels of e-heath literacy and KAP. E-health literacy appears to play a critical role in preventing BEA by understanding standard precautions and follow-up protocols.

Keywords: Accidents; Attitude; Blood; Health literacy; Knowledge; Medical students; Practice.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: This study was conducted in accordance with the ethical principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Ethical Committee of Farhat Hached University Hospital (Reference of opinion of the committee of medical ethics and research: CER: 15-2023). Participation in the study was voluntary, and written informed consent was obtained from each participant after clarification of the study objectives. To ensure anonymity and confidentiality, full names and email addresses were not collected. Teacher consent was obtained prior to the start of the tutorial sessions during data collection. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

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