الفهرس 
Overview about Anatomy & Physiology of LiverOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Viral hepatitis is liver inflammation due to viral infection. Several viruses can cause liver inflammation, including hepatotropic viruses, cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, herpes simplex virus and so on. The most common causes of viral hepatitis are hepatotropic viruses: hepatitis A virus (HAV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis D virus (HDV) and hepatitis E virus (HEV). These five hepatitis viruses are very different in their modes of transmission and health outcomes. Viral hepatitis, particularly hepatitis B and hepatitis C, has been silent killer for decades across all global regions (The, 2016).
Aims of the study
This study aimed to:
1. Assess the students’ level of knowledge about viral hepatitis.
2. Assess the students’ level of reported practices related to prevention of viral hepatitis.
Subjects and methods
This study has been portrayed under the four main designs as following:
I- Technical design.
II- Operational design.
III- Administration design.
IV- Statistical design.
I-Technical design
The technical design includes research design, setting, subject and tools of data collection.
A- Study design:
A descriptive cross-sectional study was used to conduct this study.
B- Setting:
The study was conducted at the preparatory and secondary public schools in Sohag governorate. According to educational administration in Sohag governorate, there are 12 districts, each district includes a number of preparatory and secondary schools ranged from (30-50 school). Sohag district was selected randomly to represent 10% of the total districts. As well, 10% of the preparatory and secondary schools were randomly selected, included five preparatory schools namely (Huda Sharawi school for girls, Khalid Ebn El- walid school, Salah Salem school for boys, El-Taiser school for girls, El –Mohandes El –Nabwi school) and one secondary school (El-Shaimaa school for girls) to represent the selected district.
C- Study subjects:
A list with the number of classes in the pre mentioned schools was obtained by the researcher and 10% of the classes were selected randomly to conduct the study.
A convenient sample of 396 students were selected from the previously mentioned schools, however all students in the selected classes were included in the study sample regardless their age, gender and educational level.
D- Tools for Data Collection:
The data were collected through using the following tools.
Tool (I): Predesigned Self-administered Questionnaire Sheet (Appendix II):
This tool was prepared by the researcher and written in simple Arabic language based on scientific literature review and included two parts as following:
-The characteristics of the studied students.
- Knowledge of the studied students about viral hepatitis.
Tool (II): Students’ Reported Practices Assessment Sheet (Appendix III):
This tool designed by the researcher to assess students’ reported practices related to prevention of viral hepatitis.
Results:
The Main findings obtained from the study can be summarized as following:
• The finding of the current study revealed that more than half of studied students (55.8%) were from rural areas and less than two thirds of them (61.6%) were female.
• Nearly half (42.9%) of studied students are in the age group 11-12 years with mean age 13.23± 1.88 years.
• Regarding total level of knowledge, the current study showed that more than three quarters of the studied students (81.6%) had unsatisfactory level of knowledge about viral hepatitis.
• The finding of the current study showed that two thirds of the studied students (66.9%) had satisfactory level of total reported practices.
• The present study revealed that there was a significant difference between the studied students’ total level of knowledge and the age of students, gender, the accompanying of persons in home, ranking and level of education at P < 0.05.
• The present study revealed that there was a significant difference between the studied students’ total level of knowledge regarding viral hepatitis and both the mothers’ level of education and number of family members at P < 0.01.
• The present study showed that there was positive correlation between the studied students’ total level of knowledge and both the mass media (TV, Radio) and health care worker as a source of information at P<0.05.
• The present study revealed that there was a significant difference between the studied students’ total level of reported practices regarding viral hepatitis and the age of students, the accompanying persons in home, level of education, gender and ranking at P < 0.05.
• The present study revealed that there was a significant difference between the studied students’ total level of reported practices regarding prevention of viral hepatitis and the mothers’ level of education, fathers’ level of education and number of family members at P < 0.01.
• The present study illustrated that there was negative correlation between the studied students’ total level of reported practices and both the relatives, friends& neighbors and mass media (TV, Radio) as a source of information at P < 0.05. While, there was significant positive correlation between the studied students’ total level of reported practices and school at P < 0.05.
• It was observed from the current study that there was positive correlation between reported practices of the studied students and their total levels of knowledge about viral hepatitis at P < 0.01.
Conclusion
Based on the results of the present study, it can be concluded that, more than three quarters of the studied students had unsatisfactory knowledge. Also, two thirds of them had satisfactory level of total reported practices regarding prevention of viral hepatitis. In addition, there was statistically significant positive correlation between total level of reported practices among the studied students and their total levels of knowledge about viral hepatitis. Also, it was concluded that age of students, gender, the accompanying persons in home, ranking, level of education for both the studied students & their mothers, number of family members, mass media, health care worker and school considered as factors that affect the students’ awareness about viral hepatitis.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of this study, the following recommendations are proposed:
1- Conducting health education programs at schools to raise the awareness of the students about viral hepatitis and its prevention.
2- Developing a simplified illustrated and comprehensive Arabic booklet including information about viral hepatitis and its preventive measures to be distriputed for school students.
3- Viral hepatitis as a global health issues should be introduced into teacher’s educational programs so as to produce knowledgeable teachers, who are able to deliver this information to the school students.
4- School nurse as a represented member of health team and health educator should take the advantage of the internet to improve their general knowledge about viral hepatitis.
5- School administrators should invite health practitioner to schools as guest speaker to educate both teachers and students on hepatitis.
6- Further studies should be carried out among other schools in all Governorate to assess students’ awareness about viral hepatitis.