Abstract:

Objective To understand the cognitive status of undergraduates in a medical university on food-borne parasitic diseases for reference to design the teaching contents and improve the teaching methods for medical parasitology course. Methods Undergraduates who had completed the curriculum of medical parasitology in the spring semester of 2022 were included by using convenience sampling method, and underwent survey on the living habits of the student as well as their knowledge level of food-borne parasitic diseases, learning and behavioral willingness. Results Of the 109 participants, the highest recognition accuracy was in Taenia solium (90.83%, 99/109), and the lowest was in Trichinella spiralis and Toxoplasma gondii (both were 45.87%, 50/109). The correct rate of infection pathway cognition was the highest in "eating raw fish and drunken shrimp and drunken crab" (97.25%, 106/109), and the lowest in "eating measly pork" (86.24%, 94/109). The highest correct knowledge towards clinical symptoms was "gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain and diarrhea" (97.25%, 106/109), and the lowest was "epilepsy and hemiplegia" (55.96%, 61/109). Students' knowledge level of food-borne parasitic diseases was positively correlated with their knowledge learning, knowledge dissemination and behavioral change willingness (r=0.273, 0.193, 0.189, both P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the scores of knowledge learning, knowledge dissemination and behavioral change willingness among students of different genders, nationalities, origins and majors (all P>0.05). Conclusion The knowledge of part of food-borne parasitic diseases was poorer in medical undergraduates, and the students need improving in cognition of the clinical symptoms involved in those parasites. In the course of teaching, it is suggested to appropriately increase the content proportion of important foodborne parasitic diseases, and improve students' cognition level of food-borne parasitic diseases.

Key words: Medical Parasitology, Food-borne parasitic diseases, Medical undergraduate, Teaching research