Nursing student perceptions of public health issues in Ghana

This article reports survey results to Ghanaian nursing students' perceptions of public health issues. Their views were ascertained through a questionnaire designed to capture ratings of educational curriculum concerns and perceptions of the importance of public health factors. Both frequency data and chi-square analysis were used to assess the ordinal position of health factors and gender differences, respectively. Chi-square analysis was also done to assess differences by age. Differences between men and women respondents existed on six of 15 health factors (p less than .05) including malaria, heart disease, measles, cancer, malnutrition and car accidents, while differences between age groups were found on two of the 15 factors (violence and cancer). Based on the ascertained student perceptions, current efforts in Ghana suggest that preventive health is an emerging concern to public health officials. As such, Ghanaian nursing students hold perceptions not dissimilar to those of U.S. health professions students.