Objective: To examine the perception of the preventability of injury and needs on injury prevention knowledge among undergraduates.
Methods: Stratified sampling and cluster sampling were used to select undergraduate students from 12 classes of three specialized fields of Central South University. A survey was carried out to understand beliefs of the preventability of injuries and knowledge needs on injury prevention.
Results: Over 80% of students believed that drowning (605/684), road traffic injuries (601/684), burns and suicide/self-harm (591/684) are most preventable, while merely 59.6% (408/684) and 56.4% (386/684) of students considered cut/pierce and homicide/assault most preventable. The beliefs of preventability of common injuries were not statistically significant between non-public-health medical students, public health students, and non-medical students (P > 0.05), with an exception for poisoning. 18.1% of students (124) reported to received short-term injury training or take lecture for injury prevention, and 27.9% of students (191) had ever read injury-related books. There were 60% (410/684) and 56% (383/684) of students respectively reporting needs for prevention knowledge about poisoning and road traffic injuries.
Conclusion: Many undergraduates hold incorrect perception on the preventability of injuries, quite a few report knowledge needs for injury prevention.