Lesley O'Brien, Nicola Wassall, Danielle Cadoret, Aleksandra Petrović, Patrick O'Donnell, Siobhán Neville
Perceptions of and preparedness for cross-cultural care: a survey of final-year medical students in Ireland
BMC medical education
background theorypraxis gap related health literacy interventions focused noncommunicable diseases ncds among young people designed ncd curriculum investigated effect health literacy nonmedical nonnursing college students india deliberately selected nonmedical nonnursing college students age 17 22 years hypothesized would minimum baseline knowledge ncds methods initially carried pilot study 85 students fourdaylong workshop 32 teaching hours using empirically developed health literacy instrument administered curriculum 120 randomly selected students four colleges 50 students assigned comparison group curriculum given four days total 32 hours approval sought give four credits completion course lecture comprised didactics followed discussion skills testing measuring blood pressure blood sugar health literacy measured using specifically designed tool baseline endline difference health literacy scores two timepoints timepoint 1 delivering curriculum timepoint 2 end four days training analyzed using ttest multiple linear poisson regression models used account covariates results average difference intervention control group baseline scores 005 points unpaired ttest statistics 136 degrees freedom 10315 p005 endline 2059 points unpaired ttest statistics 1131 degrees freedom 13814 p0001 endline baseline difference health literacy scores 1854 points higher intervention group versus control group unpaired ttest statistics 1088 degrees freedom 16132 p0001 differenceindifference scores remained significant accounting college setting baseline score multivariable linear regression model 1962 points p0001 none socioeconomic characteristics significantly associated difference difference scores independent intervention effect proportion participants scoring 40 health literacy measure endline significantly higher intervention versus control group p0001 conclusions provide empirical data support incorporation ncds credit course college curricula low middleincome countries findings showed theorydriven skillsfocused curriculum may tool enhancing ncd health literacy indian youth diverse academic socioeconomic backgrounds