A Study on the Knowledge and Attitudes Towards Radiation Therapy and Cancer

Oh, Yoon Kyeong; Park, Sang Hag

Abstract

PURPOSE: To get the data for public information and education of medical students about radiation therapy (RT).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
We evaluated the knowledge and attitudes towards the RT and cancer in the third grade medical students who did not receive a lecture before starting the poly-clinic education about radiation oncology in our medical school. We obtained a total of 142 answers from the students that completed the questionnaire.
RESULTS
More than half of the third grade medical students answered 1 question correctly and 5 questions incorrectly among 6 questions about knowledge of RT. Incorrect answers were done about the frequency of RT, hair loss, the period of RT, re-RT, cost of RT. Fifty-six percent of students didn't wish to prolong the survival time from 1 year to 3 years with long courses of chemotherapy and RT. They had bad images about cancer of colorectum, lung, esophagus, liver, breast, cervix which consist of 56.3% of patients receiving RT.
CONCLUSION
Public information about the basic points of RT should be considered. Also the students showed the pessimism about the anticancer treatments such as chemotherapy and RT, so the exact results and positive aspects of anticancer treatment should be educated more. Especially it is needed to inform the students and the public the positive aspects of RT in some cancers (colorectal, lung, esophageal, hepatic, breast, cervix cancers) which the students had bad images about.