Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices on Rabies Prevention and Control among Primary Care Providers of Children 0-18 years old
Nikki Francheska L. Tubeo-Dilao, M.D., Jonathan G. Lim, M.D., Cheryl K. Bullo, M.D.

ABSTRACT
Objectives: To determine the knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) on rabies prevention and control among primary care providers of children 0-18 years old.
Methodology: This is an analytical cross-sectional study conducted among primary care providers of children 0-18 years old in Barangay Sambag I, Cebu City, Philippines. A questionnaire to determine the KAP on rabies prevention and control, originally developed by Lañada et al., was modified and contextualized to the local setting. Respondents with at least 75% correct answers per domain were considered to have good overall knowledge, attitude, and practices. Furthermore, each question under the above domains was analyzed separately to determine any gaps in KAP. Results were recorded as frequencies and percentages. The association of KAP to one another and the respondents’ profiles were analyzed using Chi-square test with a level of significance of 0.05.
Results: Among 285 respondents, 59.3% had poor knowledge, 35.8% had wrong practices, and 21.8% had negative attitude on rabies prevention and control. We found that 92.6% did not know that rabies is incurable. As to practices performing “tandok” (42.5%), or the act of removal of rabies from a wound by using an animal horn, and applying herbal medicines (34%) were still done. Use of dog restraint (44.6%) and euthanasia (40%) weren’t favorable to study participants. Surprisingly, non-dog owners had good knowledge and positive attitude than dog owners.
Conclusion: Our study showed that majority of the study population had poor knowledge on rabies prevention and control, on disease transmission, and on the incurability of rabies. While majority had a positive attitude and correct practices, the unacceptability on the use of a dog restraint and euthanasia, especially among dog owners, were still evident.

KEYWORDS: Rabies, Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, KAP
https://doi.org/10.56964/pidspj20242501006
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