Awareness and perception about ragging amongst medical undergraduate students: a cross-sectional study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20161369Keywords:
Ragging, Medical undergraduate students, Awareness, PerceptionAbstract
Background: Several studies in the past have shown that abuse, bullying, harassment at educational institutions are a regular phenomenon; it is faced not only by medical students, but also other healthcare professionals. While research has been carried out on bullying, however, to our knowledge no research has been conducted as yet studying the perception of newly admitted medical undergraduate students about ragging. Hence the present study was aimed to assess the perception about ragging among undergraduate MBBS students.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from August to October 2015 amongst 89 first year medical students of 2015 batch of ESIC Medical College, Kalaburagi, Karnataka, India. A pre-designed questionnaire which assessed perceptions regarding ragging amongst medical students was the tool of data collection.
Results: Most of the male and female participants were unaware of fact that formal introduction is a type of ragging (72.73% and 98.21% respectively). We further inquired about student’s knowledge about provision of any legal action against ragging, majority of male and female students were unaware of any legal action (75% and 91% respectively).
Conclusion: Overall awareness about ragging is not shown upto the mark. A prior education of students is utmost necessary. Provision of prior support for students may help to reduce anxiety among newcomers. There is need to develop awareness among these students about various aspects of ragging and legal action against it.
References
Anti-ragging policy. Chitkara University Himachal Pradesh. 2009. Available from: http://chitkarauniversity.in/ dnn/ Admissions/ AntiRagging/ tabid/ 94/ Default.aspx.
Ragging. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Ragging.
Lamb J, Pepler DJ, Craig W. Approach to bullying and victimization. Can Fam Physician. 2009;55:356-60.
Chopra M. Ragging in educational institutes: Human rights. Legal service India. Available from: Perspectivehttp://www.legalserviceindia.com/ articles/ ragging.htm.
Banerjee S, Sharma A, Mathur S. Some points to remember about ragging. The Department of Computer Science and Engineering. Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Available from: http://www.cse.iitd.ernet.in/ ~suban/ ragging/ note.pdf.
Ragging in Indian Universities and Colleges. Coalition to Uproot Ragging from Education (CURE). Estd; 2001. Available from: http://www.noragging.com/ CURE1.pdf.
Venkateswarlu Ch, Satyasri N. Effects of ragging on human dignity-a critique. International journal of multidisciplinary educational research. 2012;1(4):229-42.
