KAP Surveys and Dengue Control in Colombia: Disentangling the Effect of Sociodemographic Factors Using Multiple Correspondence Analysis

Abstract

During the last few decades, several studies have analyzed and described knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of populations regarding dengue. However, few studies have applied geometric data analytic techniques to generate indices from KAP domains. Results of such analyses have not been used to determine the potential effects of sociodemographic variables on the levels of KAP. The objective was to determine the sociodemographic factors related to different levels of KAP regarding dengue in two hyper-endemic cities of Colombia, using a multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) technique. In the context of a cluster randomized trial, 3,998 households were surveyed in Arauca and Armenia between 2012 and 2013. To generate KAP indexes, we performed a MCA followed by a hierarchical cluster analysis to classify each score in different groups. A quantile regression for each of the score groups was conducted. KAP indexes explained 56.1%, 79.7%, and 83.2% of the variance, with means of 4.2, 1.4, and 3.2 and values that ranged from 1 to 7, 7 and 11, respectively. The highest values of the index denoted higher levels of knowledge and practices. The attitudes index did not show the same relationship and was excluded from the analysis. In the quantile regression, age (0.06; IC: 0.03, 0.09), years of education (0.14; IC: 0.06, 0.22), and history of dengue in the family (0.21; IC: 0.12, 0.31) were positively related to lower levels of knowledge regarding dengue. The effect of such factors gradually decreased or disappeared when knowledge was higher. The practices indexes did not evidence a correlation with sociodemographic variables. These results suggest that the transformation of categorical variables into a single index by the use of MCA is possible when analyzing knowledge and practices regarding dengue from KAP questionnaires. Additionally, the magnitude of the effect of socioeconomic variables on the knowledge scores varies according to the levels of knowledge, suggesting that other factors might be influencing higher levels of knowledge.

Transmission of Chikungunya Virus in an Urban Slum, Brazil

“…In addition, low education levels in such settings may limit residents' ability to access, understand, and act on information about measures to prevent mosquitoborne diseases (33,34). Individual-and ecologic-level studies in rural Kenya (35), Nicaragua (36), and Colombia (37) have also showed that socioeconomic vulnerability and living near sites where water accumulates are associated with increased chikungunya incidence.…”

Knowledge, attitude, and practice towards Hepatitis B infection among nurses and midwives in two maternity hospitals in Khartoum, Sudan

“…Evidence suggests that health-related behaviours are affected by knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) [17, 18]. However, there are few studies examining the KAP level of HCWSs towards HBV infection in Sudan [3, 15].…”

Socioeconomic and demographic predictors of resident knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding arthropod-borne viruses in Panama

“…Demographic characteristics such as age have also been found to be linked with KAP, specifically revealing that knowledge is lowest among older respondents [ 14 ]. KAP studies in endemic Dengue Fever regions have shown that a community can be knowledgeable of risk, yet not take any precautions to avoid Dengue transmission [ 15 , 16 ]. Further studies have found the reverse, where communities can have very little knowledge of Dengue transmission, yet employ high levels of preventatives measures [ 17 ].…”