Awareness of health risks and communicable diseases among undergraduate maritime students
Abstract
Background: In case of an emergency related to crew’s health the first responsible person on board is
the appointed officer of the ship. Sometimes these officers aren’t just the only responsible person but
also the only available option. Therefore, they are expected to handle various types of cases from disease
outbreaks to food poisoning. However, officers on board aren’t particularly trained or prepared for such
extreme circumstances. Services like Telemedical Assistances may provide great help in such moments,
but the first identification and contamination of various diseases might not be possible without previously
acquired knowledge and awareness. This study aims to examine and discover the basic health knowledge
and risk awareness of undergraduate maritime students and assess the needs for improved health training
for future maritime officers.
Materials and methods: The study was conducted by proposing an anonymous questionnaire to the undergraduate students of maritime faculties located in Turkey. Questionnaire form was adapted from the study
of Grappasonni et al. This questionnaire examines the awareness of health risks and risks of contracting
communicable diseases among seafarers. A total of 266 Turkish participants joined the study.
Results: Basic health knowledge of the maritime students seems to be well acquired expect for the communicable
diseases and food hygiene. General risk perception for most health issues especially for the communicable diseases is low for all participants. Findings note that most maritime students get their health and disease information from Internet sources. Several differences between Marine Transportation Engineering and Marine Engineering students are found, related to concerns they feel on board for health issues. All maritime students are more concerned about the risks of psychological problems due to isolation. A risk, perception and in some cases awareness shift is observed between classes. All results are limited with participants’ nationality.
Conclusions: Seafarers should be educated and trained according the conditions they face on board. An
improved training method should be adopted. This way, the future officers will be qualified to intervene in
emergency situations.
Keywords: communicable diseasesfood hygienehealth knowledgeawareness training
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