A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Planned Teaching Programme RegardingNail Clipping and Hand Washing for Prevention of Intestinal Parasites amongSchool Children (6-12yrs) in Selected Schools of Kota Village, Udupi District

Introduction

Intestinal parasitic infections are highly prevalent in the resource limited regions of the world. School aged children are particularly susceptible to parasitic infections. Both protozoan and helminthic infections correlate with unrecognized morbidities including growth deficits, malnutrition and poor performance.^[10] Furthermore, intestinal parasitic infections are reported to be substantially linked with anaemia in children. Intestinal parasitic infections can decrease the food and nutrient intake due to intestinal blood losses and induce RBC destruction by the spleen.^[10] The current strategy to control intestinal worm infections is periodic treatment of people who are at risk. However, providing anti-helminthic drugs systematically is difficult because which may increase potential drug resistance. Considering that, re-infection occurs frequently in areas where intestinal parasitic infections are highly endemic.^[9]

Objectives

• To assess pre-test knowledge scores regarding hand washing and nail clipping for prevention of intestinal parasites among school going children.

• To evaluate the effectiveness of planned teaching programme regarding hand washing and nail clipping for prevention of intestinal parasites among school going children.

• To find out the association between knowledge scores and socio demographic variables.

Hypothesis (Tested at 005 Level of Significance)

H0 - There is no significant difference between pre-test scores on nail clipping and hand washing for prevention of intestinal parasites and socio-demographic variables.

H1 : There will be significant difference between pretest and post-test knowledge scores on nail clipping and hand washing for prevention of intestinal parasites.

H2 : The post-test knowledge scores will be significantly higher than pre-test knowledge scores.

Material and Methods

Evaluative approach, pre-experimental one group-pretest and post-test design was used. The main study was conducted in school of Kota village, Udupi District. NonProbability purposive convenient sampling technique was used. Data was collected among 40 school going children. Researcher developed socio-demographic data and self-administered knowledge questionnaire and those tools were given to six valuators belonging to different departments. Ethical permission was taken from ethical committee of college and different schools. The reliability was estimated by using test-retest method; it was 0.70 which meant tool was reliable. Pretest was carried out using self-administered knowledge questionnaire and knowledge was assessed. Planned teaching programme was conducted by the researcher and then after seven days, post- test was conducted using pre-test self-administered knowledge questionnaire. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results

The present study results show that majority of the participants 39 (97.5%) belonged to age group of 10-12 years, 26 (65%) were males, 40 (100%) were Kannada speaking, 70% belonged to 6th standard, 40 (100%) were Hindus and 26 (65%) belonged to nuclear families.

The data presented in table 1 indicates that in pre-test, most of the participants 1 (2.5%) had poor knowledge level and 27 (67.5%) had average level of knowledge and 12 (30%) had good level of knowledge. However in post-test, 40 (100%) demonstrated good knowledge.

Table 2 demonstrates that the mean percentage of post-test knowledge score (17.6) was higher than the mean pre-test knowledge score (11.87). The ‘t’ value computed between pre-test and post-test knowledge scores was t=2.101, table value was 2.78. p <0.05 was statistically significant. Hence hypothesis (H1 ) was accepted. It indicates the effectiveness of planned teaching programme on knowledge regarding nail clipping and hand washing for prevention of intestinal parasites. The Chi square analysis showed that there was statistically significant association between knowledge scores and socio-demographic variables such as gender (χ2=10.03, p>0.05), education (χ2=13.35, p>0.05) and rest of the variables were not significant. Hence the stated Hypothesis (H2 ) was accepted.

Discussion

The present study revealed that 97.3% of participants belonged to age group of 10-12 years, 100% were Kannada speaking, 67% of school children had average knowledge regarding nail clipping and hand hygiene.

After the planned teaching programme, 100% of school children demonstrated good knowledge regarding nail clipping and hand hygiene. During post-test, the mean knowledge had increased and t value was 2.101.

Conclusion

Parasitic intestinal infections are particularly more prevalent in the school aged children of resource limited regions of the world. Most of students in the present study showed average knowledge regarding nail clipping and hand washing. So it is better to educate the students and bring awareness regarding nail clipping and handwashing which could lead to better practices and reduce incidence of parasitic infections. Acknowledgement We are indeed grateful to entire teaching faculty Mrs. Shamantha Kotturesha (Principal of School of Nursing), Mrs. Roshni Rodrigues (Lecturer), Mrs. Jennifer Meneges (Lecturer), Ms. Velmira Dias (Lecturer) for the contributions and support throughout the course.

We are extending our sincere thanks to lecture, Mr. Prabhakara Shettigar statistician, for his valuable guidance and support in statistical analysis and presentation of data.

We are thankful to the experts who have validated the research tool for their suggestions and corrections.

Conflict of Interest

None.