The Prevalence of Pediculosis and Treatment Needs among the School Children of Age 8-12 Years in Selected Rural Schools of Indore with a View to Develop Health Education Module

Abstract

Background: Head and body lice (pediculus humans) are similar in appearance, but the head louse is often smaller in size. While, pubic lice (pthirus pubis), are quite distinctive. They have shorter bodies and a pincher-like claw, which makes them look like crabs. However, the most common symptom of lice infestation is itching. Materials and Methods. The study originated with a sample of 150 children for explicating prevalence and knowledge of pediculosis among school children with ages from 8-12 years. The study objectives were: - 1- assessing the school children's knowledge regarding pediculosis. 2- Determining the scalp status for the prevalence of pediculosis among studied subjects. 3-Determine the association between pediculosis and the studied subject's demographic variables. 4- Determine the treatment needed for pediculosis. 5- Developing a health education module needed. This is a descriptive survey approach and the design was a descriptive cross-sectional study. Which was found to be appropriate for assessing pediculosis prevalence and knowledge among the studied subjects, utilizing stratified random sampling technique. The study was conducted in selected schools of Indore. All children between the age of 8-12 years from a selected area of Indore constitute the target population for the study. Results: Current results showed that mean of knowledge among studied children was 57.2%. As well as it was detected that, moderate knowledge regarding pediculosis and there is a significant association between pediculosis knowledge with studied children’s age. Prevalence of pediculosis was noticed among 54.6% and this put a flashlight regarding treatment needs among children school. The treatment proportion that needs to be identified among studied children was 20.7% for scalp hygiene, 67.1% for a recommendation of OTC, and 12.2% for special treatments. Conclusion: it can be concluded that depicted that, schoolchildren were having moderate knowledge about pediculosis prevention. As well based on the findings, a health education module was developed to enhance the children's awareness about pediculosis.