Assessment of Knowledge and Practices Concerning Hepatitis C among Primary Health Care Personnel in Rural and Urban Alexandria | ||
| Journal of High Institute of Public Health | ||
| Article 3, Volume 31, Issue 4, October 2001, Pages 757-782 | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/jhiph.2001.222085 | ||
| Author | ||
| Bothaina MS. Deghedi | ||
| Assistant Professor of Primary Health Care, High Institute of Public Health, Alexandria University, Egypt | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Hepatitis C remains a major health problem on every continent and it is a global public health problem. The present study aimed to assess the knowledge and practices concerning hepatitis C among primary health care personnel in rural and urban Alexandria. The study was conducted in rural primary health care [PHC] and urban health centers which were randomly selected from health districts of Alexandria. A total sample of 340 PHC personnel [115 physicians, 67 dentists, 98 nurses and 60 laboratory technicians] in these health centers were included in the study to assess their knowledge and practices regarding hepatitis C. Four different self-administered questionnaires were designed to assess the knowledge and practices of the physicians, dentists, nurses and laboratory technicians concerning hepatitis C. A scoring system was developed and the total knowledge and practice scores were divided into three categories. The results of the present study revealed that, the majority of PHC personnel did not receive training courses about hepatitis C [83.5% of physicians, 65.7% of dentists, 83.7% of nurses and 88.3% of lab. technicians]. The majority of PHC physicians scored fair knowledge [72.2%] while, 27.8% had good knowledge. Moreover, 51.3% of PHC physicians had good practice and 48.7% of them scored partial practice. It was found that 52.6% of PHC physicians who had received training courses about hepatitis C scored good knowledge compared to 22.9% of those who had no such training and the difference was statistically significant [X2 = 6.973, P = 0.008]. As regards dentists, the results revealed that 10.4% of them had good knowledge and 89.6% scored fair knowledge, also, 25.4% of them had good practice and 74.6% scored partial practice. The results also revealed that the majority of nurses had fair knowledge [88.8%] and partial practice [74.5%]. Moreover, 58.3% of lab technicians scored fair knowledge and 41.7% of them scored poor knowledge, also the majority of them [70.0% ] had partial practice and 30.0% scored poor practice. Therefore, effective periodic training courses about hepatitis C should be done for all PHC personnel and in-service training programs should be aimed at up-dating knowledge and improving practices. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Knowledge; Practices; Hepatitis C; Primary Health Care Personnel; Rural and Urban Alexandria | ||
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