Empowering University Students Through Acne Education: A Community Service Intervention for Skin-Care Knowledge and Practices, Pakistan

Abstract

Acne vulgaris is a common dermatological problem and has significant psychological and social implications among University students. Although acne is a very common condition, there are still widespread gaps in understanding the pathogenesis, treatment and skin-care habits of acne. Experiential learning based community service interventions have the potential to meet these gaps. The purpose of this community service was to educate university students with different disciplines about knowledge and the care of the skin related to acne. The quasi-experimental pre-post design was used and 30 university student participants (18 males and 12 females) were drawn from three faculties (Medical sciences, Science and Arts) of the university. This intervention consisted of weekly interactive workshops, weekly peer-led discussions, practical demonstrations and take home materials all over a 4-week time frame. The knowledge regarding acne was measured with a validated 25 item questionnaire. Paired samples t-tests were used for analysis. Overall, there was a significant improvement in mean knowledge scores from 59.0% (pre-test) to 70.0% (post-test) (Cohen's d = 0.96, p < 0.001). Significant growth was seen across all faculty subgroups with the largest relative growth in Arts (51.2% to 65.8%). The community service intervention successfully enhanced knowledge about acne-related among students from all disciplines of the university. The results suggest the importance of integrating structured skin-health education into the community service programs of universities.