Knowledge and Perceptions of Radiography Among Undergraduate Health Professional Students: Implications for Interprofessional Education in Nigeria

Background: Radiography is a health profession that employs ionizing and non-ionizing radiations for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Students from other health professional courses share institutional and clinical environments with radiography students throughout their training, making mutual understanding of the profession professionally important. No study had previously assessed this relationship at Bayero University Kano. Objectives: To assess the knowledge and perception of students from other health professional courses in Bayero University Kano with respect to radiography profession. Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional study was conducted among other health professional departments. Stratified random sampling with proportionate allocation was used to select 322 respondents. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 22, applying descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and independent samples t-tests. Results: Of 322 questionnaires distributed, 306 (95.0%) were returned and fully completed (response rate of 95%). Medical Laboratory Sciences students recorded the highest knowledge score (87.5%) while Physiotherapy students recorded the lowest (48.1%). Optometry students held the most favorable perception of the profession (96.2%) while Physiotherapy students were the least favorable (66.7%). Strong positive correlations between knowledge and perception were found in MBBS (r = 0.737, p < 0.001), Physiotherapy (r = 0.681, p < 0.001), and Dentistry students (r = 0.658, p < 0.001). Conclusions: With the exception of Physiotherapy students, participants from other health professional courses at Bayero University Kano demonstrated satisfactory knowledge and generally favorable perception of radiography. Interprofessional educational initiatives are recommended to address the gaps identified.