Barriers to dengue preventive activities in rural Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu: a study using health belief model

Abstract

Background: Mosquito control is the cornerstone in the prevention of dengue. There is a need for active community participation in the control of the disease. However, there have been various barriers in preventive activities. Understanding the barriers to the preventive activities would help in designing appropriate intervention/awareness program.Methods: A community based descriptive cross-sectional study was done in the villages of Kudikadu and Echangadu. House-to-house visit was done and persons above 15 years of age, present at the time of visit were included in the study. The data was captured using ‘Epicollect 5’, a mobile application for data collection based on the constructs of health belief model.Results: A total of 155 individuals were interviewed, whose mean age was 41.3 (±13.8). A majority of them were females (71.3%), had no formal education (27.5%) and belonged to socio-economic class 5. Majority of households 140 (87.5%) responded they have mosquito problem in the house and 103 (64.3%) of them perceived that there were barriers for carrying out dengue preventive activities. The barriers reported by the participants were lack of awareness (30%), poor government support (25%), financial issues (16.9%) and lack of motivation (7.5%). There was a significant association of socioeconomic class with lack of motivation and financial issues, with a high number of participants belonging to socioeconomic class IV and V reporting lack of motivation (p=0.028) and financial issue (p=0.025).Conclusions:Health providers have to find an appropriate and effective strategy to create awareness among people about the simple ways to prevent mosquito breeding.