INTENTION TO PRACTICE FOR PROPER SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS

Introduction:
Increasing global human population leads to increasing solid waste production. Without drastic action, this solid waste rise will hazard the environment affecting human and other living creatures. In order to reduce the threat of solid waste increment, 3 Rs strategy; to reduce, reuse and recycle the solid waste is being implemented globally. Health talk or lecture increases the knowledge of attender but it cannot ensure the proper practices. An intervention is necessary to adopt healthy practices.

Aims:
This study aimed to explore the influence of mass media over the practice of solid waste disposal among the medical students in Malaysia.
The objectives were to explore the current practices of solid waste disposal (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) and to explore the intention to practice for proper solid waste disposal in future after watching the educational video.

Methods:
In this study, 120 fourth-year medical students from a private medical institution in Malaysia were recruited. Two sets of survey questionnaires were prepared by the researchers and item-content validation of questionnaire was done by six experts. The questionnaire set A was provided to the students to assess their current practice before the intervention. After that, an educational video on solid waste was projected to the students followed by a lecture. Two weeks later, the questionnaire set B which has all the items of Question set A, but written in the future tense, was provided to the same students to explore their intention to practice proper disposal of solid waste. The data were keyed into Microsoft Excel file and analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Science Software (SPSS) 18 trial version.

Results:
Among the 120 participants, 36.7% were male and 63.3% were female which represented the gender distribution of the whole class. Approximately half of the participants (55%) had prior knowledge that non-biodegradable solid waste is the most dangerous in nature. After watching the educational video, 71.7% of participants responded non-biodegradable solid waste as the most dangerous waste. The students’ emotion response for the danger of improper solid waste disposal on living animals had shown that 85% and 91.7% of participants felt sad and guilty before and after watching the video respectively.
The students’ current practice and intention to practice appropriate solid waste management were categorized according to their total scores. Before the intervention, their practices were 25.8%, 67.5% and 6.7% for good, acceptable and poor practice categories respectively. After the media intervention, their intention to practice had progressed to 40%, 56.7% and 3.3% for good, acceptable and poor intention to practice in future respectively.

Conclusion:
Awareness, participation and practice of 3Rs in the daily life of people are crucial to achieving our goal to reduce the production of solid waste. In this study, mass media educational video intervention had effects on the awareness, emotional drive and the intention to practice proper waste disposal in future among the medical students in Malaysia. It is recommended to incorporate the media intervention in the waste management educational programs.