• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.174-180
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• 2015

There are currently many research papers on the knowledge, perceptions and actions of radiation-related staff, but hardly any papers on radiation major students in college who are to be staff members of radiation related jobs in the future. It is of course important to understand the perceptions of staff working on the lines and change their knowledge and perceptions, but in the long term it seems more efficient to understand those who are in the stage of being educated to be staff members-their knowledge and perception of radiation so that ultimately they can attain the right kind of understanding. Therefore the aim of this study is to grasp the pre-radiation staff's basic concept of radiation and space dose, their understanding of radiation safety based on this, and whether there is a change in their perception before and after the space dose measurement experiment; in the end this is to see if the space dose measurement experiment is effective in changing perception on radiation safety. This study took as its subject 64 students majoring radiation in college, I.e. pre-radiation staff members, and gauged their basic conceptualization of radiation, understanding of space dose, and understanding of radiation safety; in the X-ray room within the department the students were asked to measure space dose for themselves, so as to see whether there was a change in their understanding of radiation safety before and after the experiment, according to their understanding of the basic concept of radiation and of space dose. As a result of the space dose measurement experiment, students' increased basic knowledge of concept of radiation and understanding of the dangers of space dose were noteworthy, and accordingly their understanding of radiation safety became stricter and more conservative. In spite of this, their work ethic stayed in the lead of their understanding of radiation safety; this implies the need of a more departmentalized safety education program. Therefore instead of safety education that simply uses visual-audial material in a kind of lecture, I suggest here that there be a more experiential safety education program that enables learners to try out space dose measurement experiments for themselves, a work ethic education that aims for a conventional point of view towards radiation safety as well as a stern attitude.