Knowledge, Attitude and Practices towards Otitis Media in Saudi Arabia Community

Abstract

Background: otitis media (OM) and its complications resulted in high prevalence of hearing loss and increasing the rates of health care visits with special regard to the developing countries. Aim of the work: this study aimed toevaluate the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) toward otitis media among adult teachers in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Patients and Methods: this isa cross sectional questionnaire based study and it was conducted among a random sample of teachers in KSA from March to June 2017. All the teachers were inter viewed in their schools during the break period and answered the questionnaire that was comprised of four objects including the socio-demographics of subjects, knowledge, attitude and practice pattern of participants toward otitis media. Results: the overall knowledge about the risk factors, disease prevention and serous type was improper. Also, a poor level of attitude and practice pattern was found among most of the subjects. The overall KAP of the teachers was poor among 58.8%, while 41.2% showed adequate KAP about Otitis media. The good KAP showed a significant association with higher economic level, while other variables showed no association with KAP including age, gender and cigarette smoking. Conclusion: the suboptimal knowledge about otitis media would result in poor attitude and practice pattern which increased the prevalence and complications of otitis media. The economic level was associated with OM, thus it was considered a vital factor in prevention of otitis media.