J Korean Acad Fam Med.  1997 Jul;18(7):752-761.

The Proportion of misunderstanding about health knowledge in medical and nonmedical group

• Park KH
• Sung NJ
• Choi S

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There is much harmful influence for health promotion when general publics and medical group misunderstand common health knowledge. Therefore we investigated the proportion of misunderstanding about health knowledge of general publics and medical group.
METHODS
The data were collected via questionnaire which consisted of 30 questions (ll health behavior, 5 symptom, 14 treatment knowledge) quoted or revised on the basis of the book ('Misunderstood common health knowledge 100' published by humanism practice medical doctor association, 1994, hanwol company, South korea). The subjects were nonmedical group (third grade elementary school teachers and parents of students in Kyong ju city) and medical group (doctors-specialist, resident, intern, oriental doctor, medical student, nurse, assistant nurse in Kyong-Ju, Pohang city). The score was given 0 for false answer or no answer and 1 for true answer.
RESULTS
The dominant subclasses of study subjects were as follows .Sex; female(352:64.5%)/age; 30-40 years old(318 persons : 58.5%) education ; high school graduate group(232: 42.8%)/job; nonmedical group(housewives, 168:36.2%), rnedical group(nurse, 67:36.2%). Medical group acquired higher total average score than non-medical group. There were no differences in the total scores about treatment, symptom, and health behavior in nonmedical group by job. In the medical group, doctors earned significantly higher score than other jobs. The average score per question was 0.53 in nonmedical group and 0.69 in medical group. Non-medical group received average score below 0.5 in 14 questions among 30 questions, while medical group received only in 5 items.
CONCLUSIONS
Medical group acquired higher total average score than nonmedical group. Average score per question was 0.53 in non-medical group and 0.69 in medical group.

MeSH Terms

Education
Gyeongsangbuk-do
Health Behavior
Health Promotion
Humanism
Humans
Parents
Students, Medical
Surveys and Questionnaires