Published Paper Details:

Abstract Introduction and Background: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine disorder among girls. It has a wide range of symptoms such as irregular cycles, , infertility, obesity, hirsutism and acanthosis nigran. Many factors influence PCOS such as genetics, environment, lifestyle changes, sedentary life and diet. The present study was conducted to assess the prevalence and level of knowledge of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) among college girls and find out the association on level of knowledge with selected demographic variables. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was done among Nursing students in a tertiary care hospital and teaching institute in Raipur, India. Students who were willing to participate were included in the study. Informed consent was obtained from all the participants of the study. Institute Research Review committee and Ethical clearance from Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC) was obtained. A total of 180 participants were included and used convenient sampling method to collect the data. The participants were assured that participation was voluntary, and confidentiality would be maintained. The questionnaires were given after describing the purpose of the study and it was pretested semi-structured questionnaire was devised and validated. The first part of the questionnaire covered the socio-demographic details. The second part of the questionnaire included the questions about their level of knowledge and clinical symptoms about polycystic ovarian syndrome. After obtaining the data, it was entered in excel spread sheet and analyzed using SPSS software version 16, statistical analysis were done by using Chi-square test. Results: The study revealed that majority of the students162 (90%) had poor knowledge (<11) and 18 (10%) had adequate level of knowledge e(>12) respectively and majority of the studen129(71.7%) had suspected and 51(28.3%) had diagnosed in clinical evaluation respectively. Conclusion : :Thus, this study helps to know about the prevalence and level of knowledge and possibility of suspecting symptoms among Nursing students and also to diagnose it early, so that lifestyle changes and appropriate actions can be taken.