Background: The critical aspects of risk management for students are providing knowledge, building positive attitudes, and readiness to practice. Our study aimed to assess Chinese health-care university students' knowledge (K), attitude (A), and readiness to practice (rP) regarding disaster medicine and preparedness.
Materials and methods: A survey was carried out using a self-administered disaster medicine and preparedness questionnaire. Three main outcome measures were K (22 items), A (16 items), and rP (11 items). Responses were scored and classified as high, moderate, and low. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed for data analysis.
Results: A total of 769 valid questionnaires were collected. The associations between K, A, and rP scores was significant, i.e., K-A scores (r = 0.449, P = 0.000), K-rP scores (r = 0.312, P = 0.000), and A-rP scores (r = 0.656, P = 0.000). Multiple linear regression analysis indicated direct low-to-moderate effects of gender, age, attitude, and knowledge on readiness to practice (R 2 = 0.198; P < 0.001).
Conclusions: The study discovered that most of the students had a moderate level of knowledge, moderate level of attitude, high level of readiness to practice, and a moderate level of total KArP. K, A, and rP were significantly correlated, and K and A were predictors for rP among the health-care students. The findings indicate the importance of health-care colleges for building students' knowledge, attitudes, and readiness to practice disaster medicine and preparedness before joining the profession.
Keywords: Attitude; China; disaster medicine; health-care university students; knowledge; readiness to practice.
Copyright: © 2022 Journal of Pharmacy and Bioallied Sciences.