NURSING STUDENTS’ KNOWLEDGE OF OSTEOPOROSIS AND PREVENTING BEHAVIORS

Abstract

INTRODUCTION
Osteoporosis, a health problem that is on the rise, has received considerable attention among the
health care community and the public. Numerous studies have examined knowledge as outcome
related to the provision of osteoporosis related education, but have focused primarily on young and
postmenopausal women. However, a literature review did not reveal any studies that specifically
addresed osteoporosis knowledge of nursing students. Therefore, it is imperative to examine
whether nurse students have appropriate osteoporosis-related knowledge necessary to provide
osteoporosis prevention education for individuals throughout the life span.
OBJECTIVE
This research was carried out with the aim of determining nursing students’ osteoporosis
knowledge, their risk factors about the disease, and to what extent they practice preventive
behaviors, such as adequate calcium intake and physical activity.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was conducted as a descriptive cross-sectional research. Total 252 nursing students
attending to their educations at the Atatürk University School of Nursing in academic year of 2002-
2003 were included in the study. The data were collected by means of question from literate and
The Osteoporosis Knowledge Test. Data were anlyzed using descriptive statistics in the computer
medium.
FINDINGS
Mean age of the nursing students participating in the research was 20.55±1.69. The findings
indicated that thirth and fourth class students had significantly higher scores in the knowledge of
osteoporosis (p<0.001). The majority of nursing students had inadequate knowledge of
osteoporosis. Respondents (%63.1) believed that it was unlikely that osteoporosis would develop in
them. They also expressed that it is less serious than other common causes of morbidity and
mortality in women, such as cancer and hearth disease The majority of nursing students (%75.4)
are not consuming the recommmended daily amount of calcium and are lacking sufficient
osteoprotective exercise for building healty bone (%51.2).
CONCLUSION
These findings indicate the need for further health education concerning the importance of dietary
calcium and exercise on osteoporosis prevention in nursing students