Head lice: the feelings people have

Parison, Julie; Speare, Rick; Canyon, Deon

doi:10.1111/j.1365-4632.2011.05300.x

Cited by 21 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Concealment is an important prevalence and transmission variable because it results in individuals becoming carriers, which invariably increases the availability of head lice in a community. Concealment is thought to derive mainly from social and emotional feelings that influence the behavior of infected individuals and their carers [7][8][9]. The results from this study provided evidence to suggest that brown-haired, shorthaired boys should be a primary target in lice awareness and control programs, but that other people should not be overlooked.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

“…Is it due to an unfortunate chance meeting of an uninfected child with an infected child or are there patterns of social behavior that enable head lice populations to persist in a population? Do these behaviors have something to do with the newfound role of feelings and emotions related to head lice infection [7][8][9]? These questions have remained unexplored by researchers, so this study sought to shed light on the nature of human head lice carriers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Characterizing the Nature of Human Carriers of Head Lice

Canyon¹,

Canyon²,

Milani³

2014

TODJ

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Pediculosis is a ubiquitous disease common throughout the globe and managed entirely through the application of insecticides and natural therapies with varying success. Resistance and reinfection are known to be responsible for increases in prevalence reported in many countries since the 1900s. This study investigated reinfection, which has been neglected by researchers, by attempting to learn more about the role of reservoir hosts. Open-ended questions were asked from 126 students of Grades 8 and 9 to explore this issue from the perspective of the infected population. A majority of females (60%) and 40% of males had no idea that they had pediculosis until it was discovered by themselves, a friend or a carer. Some female (12.1%) and male (14.5%) students did not tell their parents when they became aware that they had pediculosis. Hair thickness was significantly related to this question with 23.3% of thick-haired students concealing their infections. The results from this study suggest that brown-and short-haired White boys should be a primary target in lice awareness and control programs, because they are much more likely to harbor lice than long-haired girls. Health professionals should be aware of the social reasons for why this pest is so difficult to control.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 57%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing the Nature of Human Carriers of Head Lice

Canyon¹,

Canyon²,

Milani³

2014

TODJ

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“…It has been argued that negative social effects and stigma associated with pediculosis create more problems than the infection itself [8,16,17]. This study shows that stigma is a parental and societal issue rather than a child or teen issue since only a quarter of teenagers showed negative emotions towards head lice.…”

Section: Question 2 Why Do You Think You Felt That Way?mentioning

confidence: 77%

“…The dominant themes that emerged from this study included concerns about treatment products, issues with treating children, blaming others for reinfection, stigma and social issues. The latter two mental health themes represent difficult aspects of pediculosis management, but have largely been ignored by researchers [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental and Child Attitudes Towards Pediculosis are a Major Cause Of Reinfection

Canyon

Milani

2014

TODJ

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Pediculosis can elicit considerable emotional distress in the infected and their carers, but the role of attitude in head lice reinfection has not been explored. Failure of head lice control is often attributed to insecticide resistance because human aspects of reinfestation are unknown. This study collected data from 128 teenagers with a history of pediculosis to retrospectively explore attitudes towards head lice. One third of female and two thirds of male teenagers were unconcerned about having head lice. One fifth of parents did nothing about their child's head lice infections, while a few male students did not inform their parents when they had pediculosis. This is the first study on the prevalence of human lice carriers who are a primary cause of head lice reinfection. Medical and public health professions need to understand the social reasons for the failure of insecticide-based head lice control.

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“…Some researchers propose that perhaps a more important role is played by certain social factors and individual behavior [6,7,11,12]. While chemical or natural treatments may succeed in eliminating lice, the lice-free period may often be short-lived.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attitudes Towards Pediculosis Treatments in Teenagers

Canyon¹,

Canyon²,

Milani³

et al. 2014

TODJ

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Abstract:Research on pediculosis has focused on treatment strategies and social aspects have been largely ignored. Pediculosis and its treatment in are associated with negative emotional responses while in developing countries pediculosis and its treatment may provide more an opportunity for positive social bonding. Attitudes to pediculosis have been proposed as important to successful control. Previous studies in Australia found that parents of primary school children say they treat pediculosis once it has been detected. This study retrospectively investigated attitudes towards treatment in teenage high school students in an attempt to collect information from those afflicted rather than from parents. Only participants with a history of pediculosis were recruited from a high school in Western Australia and they were asked to complete an anonymous questionnaire. The sample contained 128 Grade 8 and 9 students, aged 13-15 years old with an even gender split. Negative feelings towards being treated for head lice were observed in 41.5% of males and 54.7% of females and 49.5% of Caucasians and 40% of Asians. Anti-treatment sentiment was expressed by 19.7% of males and 10.9% of females. Shampooing with and without combing were the most preferred treatments overall.The results showed that 63.6% male and 52.7% female high school students were in favour of head lice treatments. This low percentage indicates that current treatments for head lice require improvement to be made more acceptable and that alternative treatments that are less unpleasant need to be developed. Strategies need to be explored to make treatment of pediculosis a more positive emotional experience.

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Head lice: the feelings people have

Cited by 21 publications

References 4 publications

Characterizing the Nature of Human Carriers of Head Lice

Characterizing the Nature of Human Carriers of Head Lice

Parental and Child Attitudes Towards Pediculosis are a Major Cause Of Reinfection

Attitudes Towards Pediculosis Treatments in Teenagers

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