Knowledge, attitude and practice and perception on the transmission of influenza A (HlNl) epidemic in different communities

• Main Author: Norsa'adah, Bachok
• Format: Monograph
• Language: English
• Published: Pusat Pengajian Sains Perubatan 2012
• Subjects: R Medicine (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.usm.my/55646/1/DR.%20NORSA%27%20ADAH%20BACHOK%20-%20e.pdf; http://eprints.usm.my/55646/
• Institution: Universiti Sains Malaysia

Influenza A (H 1 N 1) was a new disease pandemic in year 2009. The aims of this study were to determine level of knowledge, attitude and practices and perception on the transmission of influenza A (H1N1) in different communities in Kelantan. Several mixed design studies were conducted. An intervention was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of health education package on knowledge, attitude and practice towards influenza A (HlNl) infection in secondary school children. A total of 193 students in intervention group and 243 students in control group were Involved. The health educ.ation package was effective in improving knowledge and attitude scores of students towards influenza A (H 1 N 1). The second study aimed to determine level of knowledge, attitude and practices cind factors related to practice among public, teachers and nurses. Job stress among nurses was also determined. Self-administered validated questionnaire was used to collect data. Public were visitors of USM Health Campus during our study period. Teachers were randomly selected from three secondary schools in Kola Bharu. Nurses of HUSM were randomly chosen. A total 250 public, 163 secondary school teachers and 523 nurses were included. Most participants had good knowledge, attitude and practice on HlNl. The third study was a retrospective study to determine the epidemiology of influenza A (H 1 N 1) cases that had been admitted in HUSM. There were 93 cases enrolled with 44 (47.3%) patients presented with influenza-like-illness (Ill), 18 (19 .4%) patients were suspected cases and 31 (33.3%) patients were confirmed cases of H1N1. The fourth study was focus group discussion conducted among school children (n=30) and nurses (n=28). Nurses had good knowledge and perceived well on the risk of influenza A (H 1 N 1). However, the school children were lacking knowledge and had many misconception about the disease.