Knowledge, Attitude, And Practices of Colleges and Universities Towards the Prevention of Emerging Infectious Diseases: Basis for Development of School Based Health and Welfare Manual

Abstract

The study was conducted on various Higher Education Institutions in the province of Nueva Ecija to determine their knowledge, attitude, and practices on emerging infectious diseases and this would be the basis for the development of school-based health and welfare manual. The profile and were said to be majority from 20-30 years old age group, the female was dominant based on the gender, the bachelor’s degree was the highest educational attainment, three (3) years and below were highly experienced, both the public and private were consistently distributed and non-health related subjects were the main handled subjects by the respondents. The teachers' overall assessment based on their knowledge was that they are generally knowledgeable, they have a positive attitude, and they are practicing all the necessary infection prevention and control towards emerging infectious diseases. The age and number of years in teaching had a significant relationship based on knowledge and attitude since the computed p-value of 0.02 and 0.01, respectively (p ≤ 0.05) is less than or equal to the critical value of 0.05 level of significance while the number of years in teaching had a significant relationship since the computed p-value of 0.01 (p ≤ 0.05) is less than or equal to the critical value of 0.05 level of significance. It shows that an increase in knowledge about illness would lead to a positive attitude regarding emerging infectious diseases (r = 0.798, p < .001) and higher practices to combat and be free from sickness (r = 0.758, p < .001). Also, an increase in attitude about illness would lead to higher practices to eliminate emerging infectious diseases (r = 0.755, p < .001). The impact risk of the participants based on the findings of the study was said to be highly relevant and conclude that educators have the appropriate and sufficient knowledge, attitude, and practices on EID as a leading and key foundation to become more knowledgeable and precise when teaching EID among students and community. For further studies, Proper knowledge, right attitude, and good practices are vital in improving the achievement of better health care. So, having awareness and advocacy to the community through the effort of the teachers will surely empower everyone's mind on appropriate tools, information, and skills to make them high-quality, right informed decisions on the proper infection and prevention control, treatment, support, and care and finally, Educators should continue their legacy and contribution to strengthening disease surveillance so that soon, we can combat and protect ourselves from the health threat caused by emerging infectious diseases.