Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Vector-Borne Disease Prevention during the Emergence of a New Arbovirus: Implications for the Control of Chikungunya Virus in French Guiana.

BACKGROUND:During the last decade, French Guiana has been affected by major dengue fever outbreaks. Although this arbovirus has been a focus of many awareness campaigns, very little information is available about beliefs, attitudes and behaviors regarding vector-borne diseases among the population o...

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Main Authors: Camille Fritzell, Jocelyn Raude, Antoine Adde, Isabelle Dusfour, Philippe Quenel, Claude Flamand
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2016-11-01
Series:PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5089683?pdf=render
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author Camille Fritzell
Jocelyn Raude
Antoine Adde
Isabelle Dusfour
Philippe Quenel
Claude Flamand
author_facet Camille Fritzell
Jocelyn Raude
Antoine Adde
Isabelle Dusfour
Philippe Quenel
Claude Flamand
author_sort Camille Fritzell
collection DOAJ
description BACKGROUND:During the last decade, French Guiana has been affected by major dengue fever outbreaks. Although this arbovirus has been a focus of many awareness campaigns, very little information is available about beliefs, attitudes and behaviors regarding vector-borne diseases among the population of French Guiana. During the first outbreak of the chikungunya virus, a quantitative survey was conducted among high school students to study experiences, practices and perceptions related to mosquito-borne diseases and to identify socio-demographic, cognitive and environmental factors that could be associated with the engagement in protective behaviors. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:A cross-sectional survey was administered in May 2014, with a total of 1462 students interviewed. Classrooms were randomly selected using a two-stage selection procedure with cluster samples. A multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) associated with a hierarchical cluster analysis and with an ordinal logistic regression was performed. Chikungunya was less understood and perceived as a more dreadful disease than dengue fever. The analysis identified three groups of individual protection levels against mosquito-borne diseases: "low" (30%), "moderate" (42%) and "high" (28%)". Protective health behaviors were found to be performed more frequently among students who were female, had a parent with a higher educational status, lived in an individual house, and had a better understanding of the disease. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:This study allowed us to estimate the level of protective practices against vector-borne diseases among students after the emergence of a new arbovirus. These results revealed that the adoption of protective behaviors is a multi-factorial process that depends on both sociocultural and cognitive factors. These findings may help public health authorities to strengthen communication and outreach strategies, thereby increasing the adoption of protective health behaviors, particularly in high-risk populations.
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spelling doaj.art-a2c2bb417d53496d822d5543b5efb1b42022-12-21T19:20:56ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases1935-27271935-27352016-11-011011e000508110.1371/journal.pntd.0005081Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Vector-Borne Disease Prevention during the Emergence of a New Arbovirus: Implications for the Control of Chikungunya Virus in French Guiana.Camille FritzellJocelyn RaudeAntoine AddeIsabelle DusfourPhilippe QuenelClaude FlamandBACKGROUND:During the last decade, French Guiana has been affected by major dengue fever outbreaks. Although this arbovirus has been a focus of many awareness campaigns, very little information is available about beliefs, attitudes and behaviors regarding vector-borne diseases among the population of French Guiana. During the first outbreak of the chikungunya virus, a quantitative survey was conducted among high school students to study experiences, practices and perceptions related to mosquito-borne diseases and to identify socio-demographic, cognitive and environmental factors that could be associated with the engagement in protective behaviors. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:A cross-sectional survey was administered in May 2014, with a total of 1462 students interviewed. Classrooms were randomly selected using a two-stage selection procedure with cluster samples. A multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) associated with a hierarchical cluster analysis and with an ordinal logistic regression was performed. Chikungunya was less understood and perceived as a more dreadful disease than dengue fever. The analysis identified three groups of individual protection levels against mosquito-borne diseases: "low" (30%), "moderate" (42%) and "high" (28%)". Protective health behaviors were found to be performed more frequently among students who were female, had a parent with a higher educational status, lived in an individual house, and had a better understanding of the disease. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:This study allowed us to estimate the level of protective practices against vector-borne diseases among students after the emergence of a new arbovirus. These results revealed that the adoption of protective behaviors is a multi-factorial process that depends on both sociocultural and cognitive factors. These findings may help public health authorities to strengthen communication and outreach strategies, thereby increasing the adoption of protective health behaviors, particularly in high-risk populations.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5089683?pdf=render
spellingShingle Camille Fritzell
Jocelyn Raude
Antoine Adde
Isabelle Dusfour
Philippe Quenel
Claude Flamand
Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Vector-Borne Disease Prevention during the Emergence of a New Arbovirus: Implications for the Control of Chikungunya Virus in French Guiana.
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
title Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Vector-Borne Disease Prevention during the Emergence of a New Arbovirus: Implications for the Control of Chikungunya Virus in French Guiana.
title_full Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Vector-Borne Disease Prevention during the Emergence of a New Arbovirus: Implications for the Control of Chikungunya Virus in French Guiana.
title_fullStr Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Vector-Borne Disease Prevention during the Emergence of a New Arbovirus: Implications for the Control of Chikungunya Virus in French Guiana.
title_full_unstemmed Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Vector-Borne Disease Prevention during the Emergence of a New Arbovirus: Implications for the Control of Chikungunya Virus in French Guiana.
title_short Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Vector-Borne Disease Prevention during the Emergence of a New Arbovirus: Implications for the Control of Chikungunya Virus in French Guiana.
title_sort knowledge attitude and practices of vector borne disease prevention during the emergence of a new arbovirus implications for the control of chikungunya virus in french guiana
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC5089683?pdf=render
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