Educational intervention for Caregivers about Intestinal Parasitic Infestations for First Year Primary School Students in Minia City

Abstract

Parasitic infestations are serious public health problem that lead to physical and mental health problems such as iron deficiency anemia, growth retardation, and lack of concentration. The current study aimed to evaluate the effect of an educational intervention for caregivers about intestinal parasitic infestations for first year primary school students at EL-Minia city. Quasi-Experimental research design was utilized in the current study. The study was conducted in four primary governmental schools at EL-Minia city. Multi stage random sample techniques were used in this study. Data were collected using structured interview questionnaire to assess caregiver's knowledge about intestinal infestation, Observational check list for asses house environmental through home visit , observational check list to asses caregivers practice and Attitude scale to assess the caregiver's attitude regarding the safety food. The study result evident that there was a highly statistically significant difference between the caregivers’ knowledge about intestinal infestation in pre, post test and follow-up (P value = 0.001). Also, there with highly statistically significant difference between caregivers and practices in pre and post test (p=0.001), the majority of caregivers agree the food eating is healthy in pre test decreased to 95.0% on post test, with statistically significant difference (p value = 0.04). The present study concluded that the educational intervention there with significant improvement of knowledge, practices and attitudes of caregivers regarding intestinal parasitic infestations. It was recommended that periodical educational intervention should be implemented for caregivers of the primary school children at Upper Egypt regarding intestinal parasitic infestation to improve knowledge and practices.