Volume 27, Issue 137, July 2023

Health professionals' knowledge, attitude and practice regarding probiotics use in Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study

Ghaliah Obaid Alnefaie¹, Renad Mirzam Alammari², Aseel Ahmad Alzahrani^2♦, Rana Mohammed Althobaiti², Faten Abdullah Althomali², Nada Abdullah Alsherbi², Eman Ali Khalifa³

¹Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Taif University, PO Box 11099, Taif, 21944, Saudi Arabia
²College of Medicine, Taif University, PO Box 11099, Taif, 21944, Saudi Arabia
³Department of Parasitology, College of Medicine, Taif University, PO Box 11099, Taif, 21944, Saudi Arabia

^♦Corresponding author
College of Medicine, Taif University, PO Box 11099, Taif, 21944, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Background: Probiotics are living microorganisms that, when given to a host in sufficient amounts, have a positive impact on their health, currently being considered as viable therapy options because of research. The purpose of this-paper was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice about probiotic use among health professionals in KSA. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 237 health care workers from Saudi Arabia using a self-administered online disseminated questionnaire for data collection. SPSS 23.0 for Windows was used to gather, tabulate, and statistically analyze all the data. Absolute and relative frequencies were used to express qualitative data. Relative and absolute frequencies were used to express the qualitative data. Categorical variables were compared using either the chi-squared or Fisher's exact test. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. Results: The outputs showed that, 14.3% of participants have good knowledge and 3% have very good knowledge. Knowledge of probiotics was significantly-associated with their residence region, gender, marital status, and professional position (P < 0.05). 48.9% of participants consumed a probiotic product previously. 51.1% recommend the patient/family/close relative to consume probiotics. Conclusion: This study offers insightful information about Saudi Arabian healthcare providers' probiotic knowledge and practice. Healthcare professionals from different locations of Saudi Arabia have significantly distinct knowledge gaps and practice patterns with regard to the definition, knowledge, and usage of probiotics.

Keywords: Probiotics, healthcare workers, bacteria, GIT

Medical Science, 2023, 27, e302ms3148

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v27i137/e302ms3148

Published: 21 July 2023