Brazilian university student's knowledge about the effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy

• Grant number: 22/05564-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): August 01, 2022
• Effective date (End): January 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Maternal and Child Health
• Principal Investigator: Débora Gusmão Melo
• Grantee: Guilherme Petek Ramos Leite
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can cause several problems in the fetus, understood under the designation of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and including fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) to abnormalities related to neurocognitive and behavioral development. Despite these negative outcomes, alcohol consumption during pregnancy is often. Therefore, the population's knowledge about the effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy is relevant for public health and scientific research. Aim: to investigate Brazilian university students' knowledge about the effects related to alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Methods: this is a descriptive and cross-sectional study, using quantitative methods and consisting of two stages: (1) development of a questionnaire to assess the knowledge about the effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy; (2) administration of the developed questionnaire to a sample of Brazilian university students. The questionnaire will be developed from the identification of updated literature on the topic, elaboration of items related to the subject, and content validation by experts. The final instrument should be composed of about 12 to 15 closed questions, with three single answer options: "true", "false" and "I don't know", which will be valued, making it possible to categorize the results into good, medium, or low knowledge. The application of the questionnaire in a sample of university students will allow analyzing the acceptability (floor and ceiling effects), reliability (Cronbach's alpha), and validity (exploratory factor analysis) of the tool. The total score of the questionnaire and the level of knowledge about the effects of alcohol on pregnancy will be analyzed concern with the sociodemographic factors of the participants using inferential statistical tests. The significance level adopted in the analysis will be 5%.Expected results: It is intended to contribute to the development of health education programs, nationwide, which can help to make the population aware of the use of alcohol and its deleterious effects on pregnancy.(AU)