Omani senior secondary school students' knowledge of and attitudes to antibiotic resistance

Antibiotic resistance is a worldwide problem that is increasing largely due to the misuse of antibiotics in human health and agriculture. This situation is further exacerbated by a dearth of new antibiotic development, the focus of pharmaceutical companies having shifted to more lucrative treatments...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2022-02, Vol.17 (2), p.e0264500-e0264500
Main Authors: Ambusaidi, Abdullah, Taylor, Neil, Quinn, Frances, Rizk, Nadya, Taylor, Subhashni
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Agriculture
Anti-Bacterial Agents - therapeutic use
Antibiotic resistance
Antibiotics
Attitude
Attitudes
Awareness
Bacteria
Bacterial infections
Biology and Life Sciences
Blood pressure
Chronic conditions
Chronic illnesses
Colds
Core curriculum
Drug resistance
Drug resistance in microorganisms
Drug Resistance, Microbial
Education
Female
High school students
Humans
Hypertension
Infections
Knowledge
Male
Medicine and Health Sciences
Oman
People and Places
Pharmaceutical industry
Pneumonia
Research and Analysis Methods
Schools
Secondary school students
Social Sciences
Students
Students - psychology
Study and teaching
Surveys and Questionnaires
Citations: Items that this one cites
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Summary:Antibiotic resistance is a worldwide problem that is increasing largely due to the misuse of antibiotics in human health and agriculture. This situation is further exacerbated by a dearth of new antibiotic development, the focus of pharmaceutical companies having shifted to more lucrative treatments for chronic conditions such as elevated blood pressure. To conserve the efficacy of the current crop of antibiotics, it is vital that they are used appropriately by individuals. Effective education may be a means to achieve such appropriate use. This paper reports on a large-scale, mixed methods study, which employed a survey and oral questionnaires, undertaken with senior secondary Omani students. The study explored students' understanding of antibiotic resistance as well as their attitudes to the issue of antibiotic resistance. The study findings indicated that, although some students had a reasonably clear understanding of antibiotic resistance, many had serious misconceptions that could result in misuse of antibiotics. The article concludes with suggestions for amending secondary school pedagogy in Oman to address the misconceptions.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0264500