Attitude Towards Body Arts (Tattoos and Body Piercing) and the Knowledge on Its Complications Among Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study
[1]
Nurul Ain Najihah Bt Nor Aizi, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Melaka, Malaysia.
[2]
Monica Joyce, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Melaka, Malaysia.
[3]
Jemimah Evangeline, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Melaka, Malaysia.
[4]
Kebedduwa Gamage Sasitha Deshan Samarathunga, Faculty of Medicine, Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Melaka, Malaysia.
The number of young adults acquiring body piercing has increased in recent years. In fact, body piercing may now be considered a mainstream activity among older adolescents and young adults (age range, 17 to 25 years) in Western society. The objective of this study is to determine the attitude towards body arts (tattoos and body piercings) and the knowledge on its complications among undergraduate medical students in MMMC. A prevalidated questionnaire based analytical cross-sectional design was used to conduct this research. The questionnaires were distributed to medical students in Semester 6, 7, 8, 9 and Semester 10. 222 participants have answered the questionnaire. Attitude towards body arts was assessed in 5-point Likert Scale namely: 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = neutral, 4 = agree, and 5 = strongly agree with case scenarios. Knowledge towards the complications were assessed by point system. There are eight conditions stated with the response of yes or no for both tattoos and body piercings. Each correct answer answered by the volunteers is given the score of 1 and 0 for each wrong answer.The result shows that the mean score for total attitude towards body arts is 77.1 ± 7.8. In this study, majority of the participants have moderate attitude towards body art which is 73%, followed by low attitude which is 27% and lastly high which is the minority of 1.4% only. The mean score for total knowledge towards the complications was 10.34 ±1.91. The majority of the participants have low knowledge which is 43.69%, followed by moderate knowledge which is 35.14% and lastly high knowledge which is only 21.17%. This study shows that ethnicity plays significant role in the attitude of the participants towards body arts while residency of the participants has an effect on the knowledge of the complications of body arts.
Attitude, Tattooing, Body Piercing, Knowledge, Complications, Medical Students
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