Abstract

Blood borne diseases are diseases that are transmittable from an infectious carrier to a susceptible host.
Unfortunately, health care workers and health students are more prone to contracting such diseases as a result
of their constant exposure within Hospital work pace. They are many different blood borne pathogens which
include syphilis, brucellosis, but the most common blood borne diseases are hepatitis B, hepatitis C and Human
Immunodeficiency Virus HIV. The risk of transmission of blood borne infection among health students has
become a matter of increasing concern in recent years. Thus this study examined students’ knowledge,
perception and practices associated with the prevention of blood borne infections in Babcock University.
The research adopted a cross-sectional survey design. The study population were health science students in
Babcock university. Four hundred and twenty six students were selected through a non-probability sampling
technique. A validated questionnaire with Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient which ranged from 0.700to
0.943 was used for data collection. The questionnaires were administered through an online survey platform.
Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 was used to compute descriptive and inferential
statistics which were statistically tested at a 95% level.
The results showed that over half of the students were between the ages of 21 and 35 years old with mean±SD
21.83±3.135 years. Majority (376; 95.7%) of the students were not married and 282 (71.8%) were females.
Regarding knowledge on blood borne infections, majority of the students (346; 88%) reported that these
infections are nosocomial infections. Likewise, 92.6% stated that they knew what blood borne diseases are. The
level of knowledge was computed on a 5-point rating scale with 3.85±0.991; 359 (91.3%) students had a high
level of knowledge. Perception was graded on a 36-point rating scale with a mean±SD of 24.89±3.848. More
than half of the students 56.2% (n = 221) had a high level of perception. The level of blood-borne prevention
was moderate with a mean±SD of 9.46±3.082 on a 18-point rating scale. Knowledge had a significant but weak
statistical relationship with prevention practices (R2 = 0.057; p< 0 xss=removed> significant but low influence on the practice of preventive measures towards blood borne infections among
health sciences students in Babcock University.
This finding indicates that the improvement of health science students’ knowledge on blood borne infection
prevention could change their practice, though not with a significant difference. These findings indicate that
there are more factors within the health system or psycho-cognitive realm of the students which could effectively
promote healthy and high infection-control practices. Future intervention programs should include
comprehensive education for students and instructors alike to reduce the risk of occupational exposure to blood
borne infections.