Medical Students' Knowledge, Perceptions, and Engagement Intentions Regarding International Health Organizations: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Leadership Clerkship

Abstract

Aim: International health organizations influence global health governance, emergency response, humanitarian action, health policy, health financing, and professional standards. This study aimed to evaluate fifth-year medical students’ self-perceived knowledge, perceptions, and engagement intentions regarding international health organizations. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among fifth-year medical students enrolled in the Medicine and Leadership clerkship. A researcher-developed questionnaire assessed self-perceived knowledge, attitudes/perceptions, and participation intentions regarding international health organizations. One negatively worded attitude item was reverse coded before scoring. Internal consistency, exploratory factor analytic performance, bivariate comparisons, correlations, and multivariable linear regression were examined. Results: A total of 233 students participated. Internal consistency was high for the total instrument (Cronbach alpha 0.904) and for the knowledge (alpha 0.917), attitudes/perceptions (alpha 0.813), and participation intention (alpha 0.890) domains. Mean domain scores were 2.73 ± 0.75 for knowledge, 3.78 ± 0.57 for attitudes/perceptions, and 3.72 ± 0.79 for participation intentions. The data were suitable for exploratory analysis (KMO = 0.884, Bartlett chi-square (325)= 3826.10, p