A knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) study on dengue among selected rural communities in the Kuala Kangsar district.
A cross-sectional survey was conducted to assess the level of knowledge, attitude and practices concerning dengue and its vector Aedes mosquito among selected rural communities in the Kuala Kangsar district from 16-25th June, 2002. It was found that the knowledge of the community was good. Out of the 200 respondents, 82.0% cited that their main source of information on dengue was from television/radio. The respondents' attitude was found to be good and most of them were supportive of Aedes control measures. There is a significant association found between knowledge of dengue and attitude towards Aedes control (p = 0.047). It was also found that good knowledge does not necessarily lead to good practice. This is most likely due to certain practices like water storage for domestic use, which is deeply ingrained in the community. Mass media is an important means of conveying health messages to the public even among the rural population, thus research and development of educational strategies designed to improve behaviour and practice of effective control measures among the villagers are recommended.
Hairi
Farizah
F
Department of Social & Preventive Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur. farizah@um.edu.my
Ong
Cyril-H S
CH
Suhaimi
Anwar
A
Tsung
Teoh-Wei
TW
bin Anis Ahmad
Mohd Azhar
MA
Sundaraj
Charlotte
C
Soe
Myint Myint
MM
D000328:Adult; D000330:Aedes / Q000821:virology; D000818:Animals; D001733:Bites and Stings / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000821:virology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003715:Dengue / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D003716:Dengue Virus / Q000472:pathogenicity; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008296:Malaysia; D008297:Male; D008402:Mass Media; D008875:Middle Aged; D012423:Rural Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D040241:Social Marketing; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014881:Water Supply