The impact of two education methods on knowledge of schistosomiasis transmission and prevention among schoolchildren in a rural community in northern Minas Gerais, Brazil

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyse the effect of using two health education approaches on knowledge of transmission and prevention of schistosomiasis of school children living in a rural endemic area in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The 87 children participating in the study were divided into three groups based on gender, age and presence or absence of Schistosoma mansoni infection. In the first group the social representation model and illness experience was used. In the second group, we used the cognitive model based on the transmission of information. The third group, the control group, did not receive any information related to schistosomiasis. Ten meetings were held with all three groups that received a pre-test prior to the beginning of the educational intervention and a post-test after the completion of the program. The results showed that knowledge levels in Group 1 increased significantly during the program in regard to transmission (p = 0.038) and prevention (p = 0.001) of schistosomiasis. Groups 2 and 3 did not show significant increase in knowledge between the two tests. These results indicate that health education models need to consider social representation and illness experience besides scientific knowledge in order to increase knowledge of schistosomiasis transmission and prevention.Key words: schistosomiasis -health education -evaluation models -Brazil Schistosomiasis is a serious public health problem with more than 200 million individuals infected in the world and approximately 2.5 milion in Brazil and is also one of the most difficult parasitic diseases to control (WHO 2001). Reasons for the persistence of schistosomiasis in spite of prolonged and intensive control and prevention efforts include migration patterns and residence, the wide distribution of the intermediate hosts, the dependence of many poor populations in both rural and urban areas on schistosome-infested water sources for their domestic, occupational, and recreational needs, lack of sanitation and potable water, and scarcity of and deficiencies in preventive and curative health services (Coura-Filho 1998, Ximenes et al. 2000, WHO 2001, Funasa 2002. Chemotherapy is still the main means of managing morbidity from schistosomiasis. However, the prevention of reinfection, the infection of others, and the reduction in the incidence of infection require that attention be given to socioeconomic, cognitive, behavioral, and other factors (Kloos 1995, Barbosa 1998, Uchôa et al. 2000, Asaolu & Ofoezie 2003. Health education in conjunction with environmental sanitation and safe water supplies has been described as a potentially effective strategy in schistosomiasis control (Barbosa 1995, Coura 1995, Dias et al. 1995, Kloos 1995, Schall 1998, 2002, Funasa 2002.Developing health education programs requires that their design, administration, and outcomes be adapted to different socioeconomic and cultural settings (Kloos 1995, Parker et al. 2004. Since the institutionalization of health education in the national disease control pr...

HEALTH EDUCATION AND THE CONTROL OF UROGENITAL SCHISTOSOMIASIS: ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF THEJUMA NA KICHOCHOCOMIC-STRIP MEDICAL BOOKLET IN ZANZIBAR

“…In communities afflicted by schistosomiasis, there are often low levels of awareness (Stothard et al, 2002b, c;Mwanga et al, 2004) and misconceptions abound across social groups. For example, perceptions of the disease often vary by gender (Parker, 1993;Kloos, 1995;Gazzinelli et al, 2006); and this is evident in places such as Sudan (Parker, 1995), Kenya (Musuva et al, 2014), mainland Tanzania (Mwakitalu et al, 2014) and also on Unguja. Recent surveys undertaken by the Zanzibar Elimination of Schistosome Transmission Project, for example, suggest that many still think that kichocho is a boy's rather than a girl's disease (Knopp et al, 2013a;Person et al, 2016).…”

Development of an educational cartoon to prevent worm infections in Chinese schoolchildren

“…As highlighted by others [12,16,17], an individual’s assimilation of scientific knowledge alone does not necessarily result in behavioural change. Behaviour is related to perceptions, values, power relationships and feelings, and cannot be changed simply with the acquisition of knowledge.…”

Accessibility to and utilisation of schistosomiasis-related health services in a rural area of state of Minas Gerais, Brazil

“…These low rates may be due to the common lay perception that schistosomiasis and other intestinal infections are relatively benign and do not require medical treatment and to a lack of knowledge about the prevention and transmission of schistosomiasis , Freudenthal et al 2006, Gazzinelli et al 2006c and to the high cost of accessing health services (Table III) (Yu et al 2001).…”