Abstract
Introduction
Dengue continues to have a significant effect on the general population of Malaysia, particularly in urban areas, and it is important to ensure that members of the public have adequate awareness to curb the disease.
Aim
This study assesses the baseline knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) levels among university students and the impact of educational intervention on KAP levels.
Subjects and methods
The study consists of part 1 (baseline study) with 307 students and part 2 (impact of the intervention study) with 85 students. A validated self-administered questionnaire was used to determine KAP levels. For part 2, baseline KAP was obtained before the intervention, and the post-intervention KAP was obtained after 1 month.
Results
In part 1, only 26.1% have a good knowledge level regarding dengue, but the majority have good attitude (88.6%) and practice (71.0%). In part 2, the knowledge levels obtained pre-intervention were poor (mean score, 10 ± 2.46), while attitude and practice were good (mean scores, 8.82 ± 1.35 and 6.92 ± 2.5, respectively). The mean scores post-intervention increased for all KAP domains after the health campaign with knowledge at 12.61 ± 0.17, attitude 9.01 ± 1.09, and practice 7.11 ± 2.49. This study revealed that educational intervention was effective in creating awareness about dengue and that the social media is the most used and preferred source of information for respondents for learning about dengue.
Conclusion
Health authorities could implement a nationwide dengue awareness programme focusing on social media and other media as a platform to disseminate information regarding disease and outbreaks and to promote healthy lifestyles.
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Acknowledgements
The researchers acknowledge the Faculty of Pharmacy and Research Resources Centre of Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences for their support throughout the study.
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This study has been reviewed by the CUCMS Research Ethics Review Committee (CRERC). All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Wan Rosli, W.R., Abdul Rahman, S., Parhar, J.K. et al. Positive impact of educational intervention on knowledge, attitude, and practice towards dengue among university students in Malaysia. J Public Health (Berl.) 27, 461–471 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-018-0971-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-018-0971-z