Assessment of the Health Seeking Behavior of Senior Nursing Students in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Healthy diet habits and active life style are recognized as the most important factors influencing one’s well-being. Nurses play an essential role in the healthcare system, yet little is known about what nurses and nursing students do to stay healthy. This study was conducted to provide new insights into nursing students' health-seeking behavior. The hypothesis of this investigation was that when nursing students attain health-related knowledge during the course of their education, their health care beliefs and practices could be improved. Purpose: The aim of the study was to assess the health-seeking behavior of Saudi senior nursing students, and to evaluate whether it is influenced by their knowledge of health-related studies. Method: A cross-sectional design was used to collect data for the study. A sample of 74 senior nursing students from the College of Nursing (CON-R) at the King Saud bin Abdul-Aziz University for Health Sciences in Riyadh were interviewed after obtaining their informed consent to participate in the study. The interview was conducted via a structured questionnaire, which was developed by the researchers and reviewed by a nursing faculty member. The survey included questions related to the socio-demographic data, medical history, health awareness, and health-seeking behavior of the students. The data was entered and analyzed using SPSS software. Results: The majority of students (86.3%) did not have any chronic diseases. A large number of students (78.37%) stated that they visited the doctor only when they felt ill. Ninety five percent used medications without a prescription, and they used these medications for conditions such as flu, fever, headache, back pain, constipation, cough, and heartburn. The majority of students (95.9%) believed that nursing and medical courses helped them in altering their health behavior by gaining more understanding of the body functions, and by increasing their awareness of certain diseases and medications. Conclusion: This study reflected on the healthy lifestyle modifications achieved by Saudi senior nursing students as a result of acquiring health-related knowledge through their nursing and medical education.

Key words: health behavior, nursing, knowledge, Saudi Arabia