Knowledge, Attitude and Awareness of Hazards Associated with Use of Cotton Bud in a Nigerian Community

Abstract

Background: Self-cleaning of ears with a cotton bud is a common practice, and the hazards asso-ciated with such action are well documented. The aim of this study is to find out the knowledge, attitude and awareness on the use of cotton buds among the people of Bida community. Design and Methodology: It is a community based cross sectional descriptive study carried out among people of Bida community. Subjects were selected by multistage sampling technique. Pre-tested semistructured questionnaires were used to collect data from 278 young adults and adults’ respondents. Results: There were a total number of 278 responses out of 290 respondents interviewed (M:F = 1:1.03). Age range was from 18 to 65 years with a mean of 29.64 ± 10.06 SD. The highest response was in the age group of 20 - 29 years. About 72.3% of the respondents had tertiary education, and 40.3% were civil servants. Majority (92.8%) of the respondents had indulged in the use of cotton buds to clean their ears. Most (57.8%) of those that had used cotton buds did so because of itching in the ears. Only 44.9% of respondents agreed that cotton buds could cause damage to the ears. Many (61.2%) believed that there was benefit of using cotton buds in cleaning the ears. Majority of the respondents (74.1%) had not got information on the danger of using cotton bud in cleaning their ears. Conclusion: From our data in this study, majority of the subjects had indulged in the use of cotton bud in cleaning their ears. And the commonest reason for using cotton buds is due to itching in the ears. Their Knowledge, attitude and awareness to the use of cotton buds are very poor with erroneous believe that there is benefit to its use. There is a need to increase awareness by public enlightenment and health education and to establish school health programme in our various schools.