Knowledge and Attitude of UNIMAS undergraduate Nursing Students Towards Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs)
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UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK
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Background: Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are infections transmitted primarily through sexual contact and remain a major global public health concern. Nursing students, as future healthcare providers, must be well-informed and possess the right attitudes to ensure quality patient care and reduce stigma. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the level of knowledge and attitude regarding STDs among undergraduate nursing students at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) and to assess the relationship between knowledge and attitudes. Methodology: A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted using simple random sampling. A total of 163 undergraduate nursing students from Year 1 to Year 4 participated in the study. Data were collected using a structured, self-administered questionnaire adopted from (Folasayo et al., 2017), and analysed using IBM SPSS Version 27. Results: The majority of participants had a poor level of knowledge (n = 86, 52.8%) but showed a generally positive attitude towards STDs (n = 99, 60.7%). The mean knowledge score was 29.22 (SD = 3.34), while the mean attitude score was 38.92 (SD = 4.80). A weak positive correlation was found between knowledge and attitude, though not statistically significant (r = .070, p = .377). Conclusion: While most nursing students demonstrated positive attitudes toward STDs, their knowledge was found to be suboptimal. The weak correlation between knowledge and attitude highlights the need for more comprehensive sexual health education in the nursing curriculum to bridge this gap.