Assessment of the rabies education among middle secondary school students of southeastern Bhutan

Abstract

Rabies is one of the most important zoonotic diseases that mostly affect children. We conducted a rabies education among 129 secondary school children (intervention group = 94 students, control group = 35 students) in two schools in southeast Bhutan and evaluated the effectiveness of the lesson by comparing the knowledge, perception and safety behaviour score about rabies before and after education. We also assessed the knowledge retention capacity of the students at three months post intervention. Our findings indicated that short rabies lesson significantly (P<0.001) improved the mean knowledge score from 19.98(±2.72) to 26.96(±2.24) in the intervention group. Similarly, mean scores for perception and safety behaviour improved significantly (P<0.001) from 10.77 (±1.89) to 13.95 (±1.36) and 9.809 (±1.85) to 12.97 (±1.54), respectively. Although the scores have reduced significantly (P<0.001) at three months post intervention, most of the rabies information was largely retained by the students. In control group, significant increase in mean scores were also observed for perception from 10.17 (±2.38) to 11.2 (±2.44) and safety behaviour from 9.14(±1.44) to 10.74 (±1.95) after 3 months of education. The finding demonstrate that a short rabies lesson is effective in improving knowledge, perceptions and understanding of dog bites safety behaviour among the school children. However, there is a need for a frequent awareness program, at least quarterly or half yearly. Rabies education should focus on critical points such as dog bites being the main source of rabies and the importance washing a dog/animal bite wound with soap and water, and visiting the hospital for medical advice following animal bites.

Improving awareness of rabies and free-roaming dogs in schools of Guwahati, Assam, India: exploring the educators’ perspective

“…It ensured all experts reached a levelled understanding of dog-mediated rabies and the importance of disease awareness among schoolchildren. Such a participatory approach involving experts as stakeholders helps to identify interventions that can have long-term impacts on students (31).…”

“…Additionally, most knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) assessment studies on rabies focus on adults (30), and the gaps in children's understanding still need to be adequately addressed. The existing school interventions use conventional methods and need innovation to engage students effectively (31).…”

“…Moreover, studies recommended implementing regular awareness programs ideally on a quarterly or semi-annual basis as one-time external interventions may lose their impact over time (35,36). Therefore, innovative, continued, and sustainable interventions are required in schools for effective impact (31,37). A transition towards participatory and interactive interventions, where schoolteachers as pedagogical experts share the responsibility, can address this gap (38).…”

Post-Exposure Rabies Vaccine Compliance and Reasons for Non-Adherence - A Mixed Method Study in Puducherry

“…According to the study conducted by Lungten et al, health education interventions have been proven effective in enhancing knowledge, perception, and dog bite safety behaviour among school children. 24 Provision of health education materials have improved the public awareness of rabies and the vaccination of their pet dogs. 25 Integration of text message reminders were also shown to increase the compliance to ARV.…”