Title: Knowledge, attitude and practices of e-waste among dental students: a cross-sectional survey

Authors: Yeturu Sravan Kumar; Abhishek Madhusoodanan

Addresses: Public Health Dentistry, Amrita School of Dentistry, Amrita Vishwa Vidhyapeetham, Kochi, Kerala, India ' Public Health Dentistry, Amrita School of Dentistry, Amrita Vishwa Vidhyapeetham, Kochi, Kerala, India

Abstract: Environmental crisis and health risk due to improper e-waste management is a growing concern in India. The majority of the e-waste reaches the unorganised and informal recycling sector mainly due to a lack of awareness of proper disposal methods. This study aimed to assess the levels of knowledge, attitude, and practices of e-waste and its management among dental students. A cross-sectional self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted using a self-made and pre-tested questionnaire in a dental school in Kerala, India. The questionnaire has 16 questions to assess knowledge, nine questions for attitude, and three questions for practices. Chi-square test and Mann-Whitney U test were applied using SPSS software. A total of 221 participants were included in the analyses. The mean age of participants was 22 ± 2.26 years. The majority of the participants were ≤22 years old (65.2%), females (77.8%), and BDS students (82.4%). Only 3.2% had good knowledge and 52.9% had a good attitude towards e-waste disposal and management. The dental students were averagely aware of appropriate e-waste disposal and management while half of the students had a good attitude towards e-waste management.

Keywords: e-waste; dental; students; cross-sectional; questionnaire; knowledge; attitude; practice.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2023.134507

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2023 Vol.32 No.4, pp.432 - 441

Received: 28 Aug 2020
Accepted: 14 Apr 2021
Published online: 26 Oct 2023 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article