Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Palestinian University Students Regarding Vitamin D
Date
2019-09-10
Authors
Qawasmi, Shahd
Al-Handi, Sadiya
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Al-Quds University, Deanship of Scientific Research
Abstract
Vitamin D is one of the fat-soluble vitamins; the sun is the main source for it. It is important in increasing intestinal absorption of calcium, magnesium, phosphate, and zinc. Vitamin D is vital for bone growth and other multiple biological effects. Therefore, its deficiency or imbalance will lead to major problems. This study evaluated the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding vitamin D (D-KAP) in a sample of Palestinian university students. A cross sectional study was performed. Data collection forms were distributed in six Palestinian universities totaling 400 completed forms during the period of January to March 2019. The Analysis was performed using (IBM SPSS) version 23 for Windows. Correlation tests were used to determine the association between the socio-demographic data and the D-KAP study. These completed forms found that, knowledge wise, 57.8% of the students had poor knowledge about vitamin D, while 42.2% of them had a good general knowledge. In terms of awareness, 53.8% were found to be unaware about vitamin D, while 46.3% have good awareness. In terms of practice, 57.5% had bad practice, while 42.5% of the participants were found to have good practice. Our results indicated that the majority of the Palestinian university students had poor knowledge, bad attitude and negative practices toward vitamin D. Therefore, an important step should be addressed toward raising awareness and ensuring the right education and knowledge regarding vitamin D in the Palestinian community.