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The public healthcare sector of Mauritius: knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss among community health workers

Mauritius does not have community health workers trained in identifying risk factors for hearing loss or in referring patients for diagnostic testing. It is crucial to gather information about the knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss among community health workers before involving them in...

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Autores principales: Foondun, Taslima, Pottas, Lidia, Soer, Maggi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PAGEPress Publications, Pavia, Italy 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10658469/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38020277
http://dx.doi.org/10.4081/jphia.2023.2497
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author Foondun, Taslima
Pottas, Lidia
Soer, Maggi
author_facet Foondun, Taslima
Pottas, Lidia
Soer, Maggi
author_sort Foondun, Taslima
collection PubMed
description Mauritius does not have community health workers trained in identifying risk factors for hearing loss or in referring patients for diagnostic testing. It is crucial to gather information about the knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss among community health workers before involving them in the identification and intervention of hearing loss in Mauritius. To describe the knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss among community health workers in Mauritius. A descriptive survey design with quantitative analysis was used. Using non-probability purposive sampling, 125 community health workers which included 94 community health officers and 31 community-based rehabilitation officers were recruited from the five catchment areas of the public healthcare sector. Participants filled in a 15-item paper-based questionnaire on the knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss. The questionnaire was internally consistent, with Cronbach alpha scores of 0.759 and 0.863. The overall knowledge of community health workers regarding risk factors and the identification of hearing loss was poor (38.3%). 92.6% of community health workers reported positive attitudes toward hearing loss. General knowledge of hearing loss (P=0.015) and knowledge of risk factors and identification of hearing loss (P=0.005) were significant predictors of attitudes toward hearing loss. Knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss were significantly associated with working experience and practice setting (P=0.004). There remains a need to educate community health workers about the risk factors and identification of hearing loss to ensure timely diagnosis and management of hearing loss at the community level.
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spelling pubmed-106584692023-10-01 The public healthcare sector of Mauritius: knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss among community health workers Foondun, Taslima Pottas, Lidia Soer, Maggi J Public Health Afr Original Article Mauritius does not have community health workers trained in identifying risk factors for hearing loss or in referring patients for diagnostic testing. It is crucial to gather information about the knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss among community health workers before involving them in the identification and intervention of hearing loss in Mauritius. To describe the knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss among community health workers in Mauritius. A descriptive survey design with quantitative analysis was used. Using non-probability purposive sampling, 125 community health workers which included 94 community health officers and 31 community-based rehabilitation officers were recruited from the five catchment areas of the public healthcare sector. Participants filled in a 15-item paper-based questionnaire on the knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss. The questionnaire was internally consistent, with Cronbach alpha scores of 0.759 and 0.863. The overall knowledge of community health workers regarding risk factors and the identification of hearing loss was poor (38.3%). 92.6% of community health workers reported positive attitudes toward hearing loss. General knowledge of hearing loss (P=0.015) and knowledge of risk factors and identification of hearing loss (P=0.005) were significant predictors of attitudes toward hearing loss. Knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss were significantly associated with working experience and practice setting (P=0.004). There remains a need to educate community health workers about the risk factors and identification of hearing loss to ensure timely diagnosis and management of hearing loss at the community level. PAGEPress Publications, Pavia, Italy 2023-10-01 /pmc/articles/PMC10658469/ /pubmed/38020277 http://dx.doi.org/10.4081/jphia.2023.2497 Text en Copyright © 2023, the Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
spellingShingle Original Article
Foondun, Taslima
Pottas, Lidia
Soer, Maggi
The public healthcare sector of Mauritius: knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss among community health workers
title The public healthcare sector of Mauritius: knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss among community health workers
title_full The public healthcare sector of Mauritius: knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss among community health workers
title_fullStr The public healthcare sector of Mauritius: knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss among community health workers
title_full_unstemmed The public healthcare sector of Mauritius: knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss among community health workers
title_short The public healthcare sector of Mauritius: knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss among community health workers
title_sort public healthcare sector of mauritius: knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss among community health workers
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10658469/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38020277
http://dx.doi.org/10.4081/jphia.2023.2497
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