KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF HEALTH PROTECTIVE MEASURES OF EARLY CHILDHOOD LEARNERS IN BENIN CITY, NIGERIA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v10i6.4841Keywords:
health protective behaviour, early childhood learners, knowledge, practicesAbstract
A healthy lifestyle is desired by everybody, and this involves health-promoting and health-protecting behaviours that are complementary. Health protective behaviours must be learned early in life and particularly in preparation to face pandemics. Children must learn them as part of the socialization process in school and at home to prevent the transmission of diseases. This study explored the knowledge and practices of health-protective behaviours by early childhood learners. The population for this study was learners in early childhood schools in Benin City, Nigeria. A sample of 200 early childhood learners whose parents consented was selected purposively from early childhood schools. An interview schedule that was validated with a reliability of .83 was used in collecting data by the researchers. The data collected was analysed using frequencies, percentages and Pearson product-moment correlation. More than 60% of the learners had knowledge of washing hands regularly, using of hand sanitizers, covering their mouth with elbow when coughing among others as health protective measures which are part of non-pharmaceutical initiatives. Furthermore, more than 50% of the learners practice protective measures. Overall, the level of knowledge and practice of the measures was encouraging. Schools should continue to teach learners non-pharmaceutical initiatives in preparation for any outbreak of pandemics; the practice of such initiatives should also be enforced.
Article visualizations:
References
Asemota, O. A., Napier-Raman, S., Takeuchi, H., Raman, S., Asemota, E. A. & Nonye, E. (2022). Exploring children’s knowledge of COVID- 19 and stress levels associated with the pandemic in Nigeria: a mixed-method study. BMJ Paediatrics Open doi:10.1136/ bmjpo-2022-001444
Bukata, I. T., Dad, L. S., Ayana, A. M., Mengistu, D., Yewal, D., Gizaw, T. S. & Woldesenbet, Y. M. (2022). Knowledge, attitudes, and practice toward prevention of COVID-19 among Jimma town residents: A community-based cross-sectional study. Frontiers in Public Health. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.822116
Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (2019). Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). Author. Available from: https://www.cdc.gov/nonpharmaceuticalinterventions/index.html.
Chacón, F. R., Doval, J. M., Rodríguez, V. I., Quintero, A., Mendoza, D. L., Mejía, M. D., et al. (2021). Knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to COVID-19 among patients at Hospital Universitario de Caracas triage tent: A cross-sectional study. Biomédica. 41:48-61. https://doi.org/10.7705/biomedica.5808
Corry, M., Porter, S. & McKenna, H. (2019). The redundancy of positivism as a paradigm for nursing research. Nursing Philosophy. 20(12): e12230 DOI: 10.1111/nup.12230
Ferguson, N. M., Laydon, D., Nedjati-Gilani, G., Imai, N., Ainslie, K., Baguelin, M., Bhatia, S., Boonyasiri, A., Cucunubá, Z., Cuomo-Dannenburg, G. & Dighe, A. (2020). Impact of Non-Pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to reduce COVID-19 mortality and healthcare demand. Imperial College. Retrieved from https://www.preventionweb.net/publication/report-9-impact-non-pharmaceutical-interventions-npis-reduce-covid-19-mortality-and
Giuseppe, G. D., Pelullo, C.P., Lanzano, R., Napolitano, F. & Pavia, M. (2022). Knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of incarcerated people regarding COVID‑19 and related vaccination: a survey in Italy. Scientific Reports https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-04919-3
Goldfeld, S., O'Connor, E., Sung, V., Roberts, G., Wake, M., West, S. & Hiscock, H. (2022). Potential indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children: a narrative review using a community child health lens. The Medical Journal of Australia; 216(7):364 372. doi: 10.5694/mja2.51368. Epub Jan 23. PMID: 35066868.
Harris, D. M., & Guten, S. (1979). Health-protective behavior: an exploratory study. Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 20 (1):17–29. PMID: 438490
Ibrahim, L. F., Tham, D., Chong, V., Corden, M., Craig, S., Buntine, P., Jani, S., Zhang, M., George, S., Kochar, A., O'Brien, S., Robins-Browne, K., Tosif, S., Daley, A., McNab, S., Crawford, N.W., Wilson, C. & Babl, F.E. (2021). The characteristics of SARS-CoV- 2- positive children who presented to Australian hospitals during 2020: a predict network study. The Medical Journal of Australia; 215: 217– 221.
Li, R., Pei, S., Chen, B., Song,Y., Zhang, T., Yang, W. & Shaman, J. (2020). Substantial undocumented infection facilitates the rapid dissemination of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV2). Science 368, 489–493. doi: 10.1126/science.abb3221
McLaws, M. L. (2021). COVID- 19 in children: time for a new strategy. The Medical Journal of Australia; 215: 212– 213. http://dx.doi.org/10.5694/mja2.51206.
Nussbaumer-Streit, B., Mayr, V., Dobrescu, A. I., Chapman, A., Persad, E., Klerings, I., Wagner, G., Siebert, U., Ledinger, D., Zachariah, C. & Gartlehner, G. (2020). Quarantine alone or in combination with other public health measures to control COVID-19: a rapid review. Cochrane Database of Systematic Review, Issue 9. Art. No.: CDO13574. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CDO13574.pub2. Accessed 12 December
Pender, N. J., Murdaugh, C. L. & Parsons, M. A. (2014). Health promotion in nursing practice (7th Edition). Pearson.
Ping, W., Cao, W., Tan, H., Guo, C., Dou, Z., & Yang, J. (2018). Health protective behaviour scale: Development and psychometric evaluation. PLoS ONE 13(1): e0190390. https://doi.org/10.1371/ journal.pone.0190390
Rajmil, L., Hjern, A., Boran, P., Gunnlaugsson, G., Kraus de Camargo, O. & Raman, S. (2021). Impact of lockdown and school closure on children’s health and well- being during the first wave of COVID- 19: a narrative review. BMJ Paediatrics Open; 5: e001043.
Shen, K.L., Yang, Y.H., Jiang, R.M., Wang, T.Y., Zhao, D.C., Jiang, Y., Lu, X.X., Jin, R.M., Zheng, Y.J., Xu, B.P., Xie, Z.D., Liu, Z.S., Li, X.W., Lin, L.K., Shang, Y.X., Shu, S.N., Bai, Y., Lu, M., Lu, G., … Wang, X.F. (2020). Updated diagnosis, treatment and prevention of COVID- 19 in children: experts’ consensus statement (condensed version of the second edition). World Journal of Paediatrics; 16: 232– 239.
Shim, E., Tariq, A., Choi, W., Lee, Y. & Chowell, G. (2020). Transmission potential and severity of COVID-19 in South Korea. International Journal of Infectious Diseases. 93:339–44.
Smith, D.P., Weber, M.F., Soga, K., Korda, R.J., Tikellis, G., Patel, M.I., Clements, M.S., Dwyer, T., Latz, I.K. & Banks, E. (2014). Relationship between lifestyle and health factors and severe lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in 106,435 middle-aged and older Australian men: population-based study. PLoS One. 9(10): e109278. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0109278 PMID: 25333345
Souli, D. & Dilucca, M. (2020). Knowledge, attitude and practice of secondary school students toward COVID-19 epidemic in Italy: a cross sectional study. COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 preprints from medRxiv and bioRxiv
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.08.084236
Stebbins, S., Downs, J. S. & Vukotich, C. J. (2009). Using non pharmaceutical interventions to prevent influenza transmission in elementary school children: Parent and teacher perspectives. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 15(2):112-117. DOI: 10.1097/01.phh.0000346007.66898.67. PMID: 19202410.
Tooher, R., Collins, J. E., Street, J. M., Braunack-Mayer, A. & Marshall, H. (20013). Community knowledge, behaviours and attitudes about the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic: A systematic review. Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses 7, 1316– 1327.
Wesrt, R & Michie, S. (2020). Health protective behaviour. https://doi.org/10.32388/VCPTTZ
World Health Organization (1986). The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. WHO (http://www.who.int/hpr/NPH/docs/ottawa_charter_hp.pdf)
World Health Organization (WHO) (2019). Non-pharmaceutical public health measures for mitigating the risk and impact of epidemic and pandemic influenza. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/329438/9789241516839eng.pdf?ua=1. Accessed April 6, 2020.
Zhong, W. (2017). Simulating influenza pandemic dynamics with public risk communication and individual responsive behavior. Computational and Mathematical. Organization Theory 23, 475–495.
Zickfeld, J. H., Schubert, T. W., Herting, A. K., Grahe, J. & Faasse, K. (2020). Correlates of Health-Protective Behavior During the Initial Days of the COVID-19 Outbreak in Norway. Frontiers in Psychology 11:564083. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.564083
Yang J. Z., Chu H. (2018). Who is afraid of the Ebola outbreak? The influence of discrete emotions on risk perception. Journal of Risk Research 21:834–853
Xue, Q., Xie, X., Liu, Q., Zhou, Y., Zhu, K., Wu, H., Wan, Z., Feng, Y., Meng, H., Zhang, J., Zuo, P. & Song, R. (2021). Knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards COVID19 among primary school students in Hubei Province, China. Children and Youth Services Review 120, 105735.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
