Knowledge, attitude and practice of echinococcosis prevention and control, and their influencing factors among residents living in Seda County, Sichuan Province

Abstract

To understand the status of knowledge, attitude and practice on echinococcosis prevention and control and investigate their influencing factors among residents living in Seda County of Sichuan Province, so as to provide a scientific basis for the further implementation of health education interventions in the county. A multi-stage stratified random sampling method was employed on September 2018. Ten townships were randomly sampled, and 2 to 3 administrative villages were randomly sampled from each township. Then, 20 to 40 households were randomly sampled from each village, and 1 to 2 villagers were investigated in each household. The knowledge, attitude and practice on echinococcosis prevention and control were investigated using a household questionnaire survey, and the factors affecting the qualification of echinococcosis prevention and control knowledge were identified using chi-square test and logistic regression analysis. A total of 760 questionnaires were assigned, and 748 effective questionnaires were recovered, with a recovery rate of 98.42%. The overall qualification rate of echinococcosis prevention and control knowledge was 56.42% (422/748) in residents living in Seda County, and the awareness of the question "How to get echinococcosis?" was only 48.40%. The proportion of subjects with a positive attitude towards echinococcosis prevention and control was 64.71% to 94.79%, and the rate of corrected echinococcosis prevention and control behaviors was 10.40% to 82.45%. Univariate analysis showed that factors affecting the qualification rate of echinococcosis prevention and control knowledge included gender, occupation, education level, frequency of echinococcosis screening and frequency of health education (all P < 0.05), and binary logistic regression analysis showed that women, herdsmen as the primary occupation, an education level of primary school and below, absence of echinococcosis screening and absence of health education were factors responsible for the unqualified awareness of echinococcosis prevention and control knowledge (all P < 0.05). There is a low awareness rate of echinococcosis prevention and control knowledge and a low proportion of corrected echinococcosis prevention and control behaviors in residents living in Seda County, Sichuan Province. Multiple forms of health education activities pertaining to echinococcosis prevention and control are needed with adaptation to local circumstance, and implementation of appropriate behavioral interventions is recommended.