Abstract

Objective: Microbiota is a term which defines all microorganisms in humans. Today, it has been

suggested that the deterioration of microbiota causes the emergence of some diseases and many

relevant researches have been done. Access into, and follow up of updated information by healt- hcare professionals is an important component for improving health quality. In our study, we tried

to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes of health workers about microbiota and probiotics.

Method: Between 25/09/2018-20/10/2018, health workers who were admitted to policlinics and

employee health policlinics of Family Medicine Department of Health Sciences University Şişli

Hamidiye Etfal Training and Research Hospital (SBU ŞHEAH) participated in the study. Survey

questions about microbiota and probiotics that inquired attitude and sociodemographic charac- teristics were applied to the participants during face-to-face interviews. P value was accepted as

0.05, SPSS program was used in statistical analysis.

Results: A total of 340 health personnel participated in our study. The mean age of these patients

was 30.10±7.10 years While 225 (66.2%) of the participants were doctors, and 115 (33.8%) were

nurses. When we ask the participants about their opinion about microbiota, 57.6% (n=196) of the

participants stated that they were not interested and 0.9% (n=3) of them stated that they consi- dered this issue with suspicion. All those who thought they were deceitful were doctors. There

was no significant relationship between profession and thoughts about microbiota (p≥0.05).

When we questioned the knowledge level concerning microbiota, the study participants indicated

that they had very well (n=31: 9.1%), moderately (n=112: 32.9%), and poorly (n=197: 58%) know- ledgeable about microbiota. They indicated that their most common source of information was

internet. Most 272 (80%) of the participants stated that they recommended probiotic food or

products for therapeutic purposes. Kefir was recommended as a probiotic food by 66% of the

participants.

Conclusion: More than half of the health workers stated that the level of knowledge is low.

Therefore, we think that microbiota and probiotics should be included in both in-service and pregraduate medical traininng programs.

Keywords: Microbiota, education, health worker, probiotic