DENGUE FEVER-RELATED KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES OF UNIVERSITY PHARMACY STUDENTS

Abstract

Background: Dengue fever, a global disease that was first discovered in the 1950s, occurs in
urban poor areas, suburbs and countryside’s, especially in tropical countries, such as Vietnam.
Given this prevalence, a necessary requirement is to analyse the knowledge, attitudes and
practices related to dengue control in the country.
Methods: This cross-sectional study administered a survey to 242 students from the Faculty of
Pharmacy at Lac Hong University from June to October 2017. Data were analysed using the
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 20.0) and Microsoft Excel (version 2010).
Results: Amongst the participating students, 149 were female (61.6%), and 93 were male
(38.4%). The average scores of the students in the knowledge, attitude and practice sections of the
questionnaire were 13.79, 10.36 and 6.49, respectively. The proportions of students who exhibited
correct dengue fever-related knowledge, attitudes and practices were 27.7%, 53.3% and 60.7%,
respectively.
Conclusion: A correlation amongst knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding dengue fever
prevention was found in the pharmacy students. This result highlights the need to improve the
understanding and perceptions of such learners with respect to the propagation of information on
the disease and its prevention. Such programs would benefit the practices implemented at the
academic community level.