Ariffin Farnaza, Chin Ken Lee, Ng ChirkJenn, Miskan Maizatullifah, Lee Verna KarMun, Isa Mohammad Rodi
Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sungai Buloh, Malaysia.
Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia.
BMC Res Notes. 2015 Jun 17;8:248. doi: 10.1186/s13104-015-1220-y.
Sexual history training during undergraduate education is essential for preparing future doctors to handle patients' sexual health concerns. The purpose of this study was to assess the attitudes and perceptions of final-year medical students in Malaysia toward sexual history taking and the training they receive from their medical schools.
The study used a cross-sectional survey of 379 final-year medical students from three medical schools in Malaysia. Students were asked to rate their attitudes and perceptions regarding training on taking sexual histories using a newly developed questionnaire with good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.73). Ethics approval was obtained from the relevant medical schools, and the statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS, Version 20.0.
The mean age of participants was 23.58 ± 0.65 SD. Participants reported high interest in sexual health and felt it was important for doctors to know how to take a sexual history (95%). Among the participants, only half felt comfortable in taking sexual histories from patients. The participants identified cultural and religious differences between the doctor and the patient as a potential barrier for discussing sexual health. Participants were aware of their own practice and ability, as well as their limitations, in taking sexual histories. Less than half (46%) felt that the training they received adequately prepared them to take sexual histories.
This study identified gaps in sexual health training among medical schools in Malaysia. The delivery of sexual health education program should incorporate confidence building and to make students feel comfortable to take sexual histories from patients. The barrier caused by differences in culture or religion between a doctor and a patient may be overcome through cross cultural and cultural competency training. This is important for multi-faith, multi cultural societies such as Malaysia and other similar countries.
本科教育期间的性史培训对于培养未来医生处理患者性健康问题至关重要。本研究的目的是评估马来西亚医学专业最后一年学生对性史询问以及他们从医学院所接受培训的态度和看法。
该研究对马来西亚三所医学院的379名医学专业最后一年学生进行了横断面调查。使用一份新开发的具有良好内部一致性（克朗巴哈系数=0.73）的问卷，要求学生对他们关于性史询问培训的态度和看法进行评分。获得了相关医学院的伦理批准，并使用SPSS 20.0版进行统计分析。
参与者的平均年龄为23.58±0.65标准差。参与者表示对性健康有很高的兴趣，并认为医生了解如何询问性史很重要（95%）。在参与者中，只有一半的人对询问患者性史感到自在。参与者认为医生和患者之间的文化和宗教差异是讨论性健康的潜在障碍。参与者意识到自己在询问性史方面的实践、能力以及局限性。不到一半（46%）的人觉得他们所接受的培训使他们有足够的准备去询问性史。
本研究发现了马来西亚医学院校在性健康培训方面的差距。性健康教育项目的实施应包括建立信心，让学生在询问患者性史时感到自在。医生和患者之间文化或宗教差异造成的障碍可通过跨文化和文化能力培训来克服。这对于像马来西亚和其他类似国家这样的多信仰、多元文化社会很重要。
