Headache education in medical schools in Türkiye: the perspective of final-year medical students

Abstract

Background Healthcare professionals' knowledge and training are important contributors to adequate medical care for headache disorders. Since most headaches are treated in primary care, undergraduate medical education represents an important stage for strengthening headache-related knowledge and clinical preparedness. This study aimed to evaluate headache education among final-year medical students in T & uuml;rkiye.Methods This cross-sectional, web-based survey study was conducted among final-year medical students from ten medical faculties in T & uuml;rkiye between June and December 2022. A 32-item questionnaire developed by the authors was used to assess headache-related educational exposure, self-reported preparedness, and theoretical knowledge. Thirteen knowledge-based questions were used to calculate the total knowledge score. Descriptive statistics, group comparisons, and Spearman correlation analysis were performed.Results A total of 523 final-year medical students participated. The mean knowledge score was 9.14 +/- 1.87 out of 13. Although 94.8% reported receiving headache education, only 46.5% had received outpatient clinic-based training, 11.7% had attended a headache subspecialty clinic, and 9.6% were familiar with the national headache guideline. Participants who had received didactic headache education scored higher than those who had not (9.18 vs. 8.37; mean difference 0.81, 95% CI 0.09 to 1.54; p = 0.019), as did those who had received outpatient clinic-based training (9.38 vs. 8.93; mean difference 0.45, 95% CI 0.13 to 0.77; p = 0.009) and those who had received structured instruction on headache history-taking (9.30 vs. 8.58; mean difference 0.72, 95% CI 0.34 to 1.11; p = 0.001). Higher total headache-related lesson time was weakly but significantly correlated with higher knowledge scores (Spearman's rho = 0.12, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.21; p = 0.005). Most participants reported feeling insufficiently prepared to treat pregnant women with migraine, as well as pediatric and geriatric patients with migraine.Conclusions The findings suggest that undergraduate headache education in T & uuml;rkiye may benefit from further curricular strengthening, particularly through structured teaching, clinical exposure, and improved familiarity with headache management guidelines. Further studies using validated tools and longitudinal designs are needed to evaluate the educational and clinical impact of such interventions.