Awareness, knowledge, attitude, and practices (A-KAP) assessment of the One Health approach in health sciences education webinar series participants in select universities in the Philippines

Abstract

Background A three-day One Health training program for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as professionals in One Health-related fields, was conducted by the Philippine One Health University Network (PhilOHUN), in collaboration with the Southeast Asia One Health University Network (SEAOHUN), through a webinar series. To measure the impact of the training on the awareness, knowledge, attitude, and practices (A-KAP) related to the topics covered in the program, this study was conducted. Methods A quasi-experimental design was employed to evaluate the effect of the One Health training program on the A-KAP of the participants. An online questionnaire developed based on the content of the training modules was administered to the participants before and after the training program. The attendees who accomplished both the pre- and post-training A-KAP assessment questionnaire were included as study participants; of the 225 attendees, 119 respondents qualified. The difference between the pre- and post-training mean A-KAP scores of participants was determined using paired t-test. Results Findings showed that the Awareness of the participants (P<0.001) across the topics discussed significantly increased after taking part in the training program. In the Knowledge aspect, however, there was no significant improvement in the general knowledge items score of the participants (P=0.06) but improvements were observed in all the modules included in the training (P<0.05). As for the Attitude and Practices scores of the participants, no significant improvements were observed (P>0.05) after taking part in the training. Conclusions The significant differences in awareness and knowledge suggest that the training modules contain relevant topics, which were effectively transmitted during the program. For Attitude and Practices, it may be premature to determine the impact of a single activity, although it is expected that these will change over time. Nevertheless, the training program can be used as a springboard for introducing One Health concepts to a wider audience and a continuing initiative to influence the development of appropriate attitudes and practices for current and future One Health practitioners.