Awareness levels of school teachers about school health services in urban and rural settings of Maharashtra

Abstract

Background: Schools are crucial platforms for comprehensive health protection and promotion. It is important for the health authorities to assess the importance of schools in establishing school health policies and its successful implementation.The existing study was carried out to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices about school health services in school teachers from urban and rural areas. Material and Methods: A Cross sectional study was executed on 700 secondary school teachers in urban and rural areas of Sangali District of Maharashtra. A self-administered, pilot-tested questionnaire was formulated including KAP related questions about health services. It was distributed to teachers and responses were gathered. The data analysis was done by using SPSS Version 22 Software. Results: The mean percentage knowledge score of the rural school participants was 60.42% which was nearly similar to that of the urban school teachers (60.64%). P <0.05delineates that; there was a significant difference in the median knowledge score of these two groups. Conclusions: The majority of the school teachers had satisfactory knowledge, attitudes and practices about health services. However, there is need for frequent training of teachers in similar aspects to promote positive health of students, families and communities.