[An investigation into perception of preventability of injuries and knowledge needs on injury prevention among 684 among undergraduates of a university].

To examine the perception of the preventability of injury and needs on injury prevention knowledge among undergraduates. Stratified sampling and cluster sampling were used to select undergraduate students from 12 classes of three specialized fields of Central South University. A survey was carried out to understand beliefs of the preventability of injuries and knowledge needs on injury prevention. Over 80% of students believed that drowning (605/684), road traffic injuries (601/684), burns and suicide/self-harm (591/684) are most preventable, while merely 59.6% (408/684) and 56.4% (386/684) of students considered cut/pierce and homicide/assault most preventable. The beliefs of preventability of common injuries were not statistically significant between non-public-health medical students, public health students, and non-medical students (P > 0.05), with an exception for poisoning. 18.1% of students (124) reported to received short-term injury training or take lecture for injury prevention, and 27.9% of students (191) had ever read injury-related books. There were 60% (410/684) and 56% (383/684) of students respectively reporting needs for prevention knowledge about poisoning and road traffic injuries. Many undergraduates hold incorrect perception on the preventability of injuries, quite a few report knowledge needs for injury prevention.