Asma Alanazi; Haifa Alhawas; Munirah Aldossar; Dana Almutairi; Dana Almatroudi; Afnan Alenazi; Leen Almadh; Maram Albalawi
Abstract
A critical, two-way link exists between sleep-related issues and a person's mental and physical well-being. Despite sleep medicine being an established field, there's a shortage of ...
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A critical, two-way link exists between sleep-related issues and a person's mental and physical well-being. Despite sleep medicine being an established field, there's a shortage of widespread understanding, leading to potential missed diagnoses of sleep conditions. In the present study, we examine the awareness of medical students on the topic of circadian neuroscience and sleep disorders. To gauge both the understanding and viewpoints of students concerning sleep disorders and medicine, a total of 296 medical students -142 males and 154 females- in their third to sixth years participated in a self-conducted Assessment of Sleep Knowledge in Medical Education (ASKME) survey. This questionnaire combined items on socio-demographic information and sleep science. Statistical analyses were performed using Fisher's exact/chi-squared tests and the Wilcoxon two-sample test. A total of 296 students took part in the research, and the findings indicate that an overwhelming 96.62% had insufficient knowledge about sleep medicine, with a mere 3.28% showing adequate understanding. On a positive note, a high percentage of students (85.47%) expressed a favourable view of sleep medicine, while only 14.53% held a negative outlook. Notably, there was a statistically meaningful correlation between attitudes toward sleep medicine and gender (p=0.0057). Interest in sleep medicine also showed a significant connection with both knowledge (p=0.0552) and attitude (p=0.0059). In summary, while there's a knowledge gap among the surveyed medical students in the area of sleep medicine, the bulk of them have a positive disposition toward the subject.
