Knowledge and attitude of rural community towards the respiratory diseases

Abstract

Background: Respiratory diseases are considered as one of the major public health problems in developing countries like India. Among all illness in adults, heart, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung diseases are the major cause of mortality and morbidity in India. Since majority of the Indian population resides in rural areas, assessment of knowledge and attitude in that region regarding respiratory diseases are essential.Methods: A descriptive study was conducted using restructured and pretested questionnaire to assess the knowledge and attitude of the rural people. Descriptive statistics were used to represent the study characteristics. Chi-square test was used to assess the association among the study variables with p-value of <0.05 which was statistically significant.Results: Total 467 participants enrolled in the study out of which 39.4% were male and 60.6% were female. The mean age of the participants was 44.7±16.1 years, where majority of participants belongs to the age group 38-47 years. Overall the knowledge of the participants was found to be poor 6%, average 49.5% and good (44.5%). Statistically significant association between the literacy level and the knowledge on respiratory diseases was found.Conclusions: Although knowledge and attitude of the people towards the respiratory diseases are encouraging, there is a need for long term educational program. The findings of this study can guide the public health authorities in making and implementing decisions to reduce the health problems related to respiratory diseases.