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Public Knowledge and Attitudes towards Vitiligo: A Survey in Mekelle City, Northern Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: The overall well-being, sense of stigmatization, and treatment outcome of persons with vitiligo are largely dependent on their social acceptance and this is linked with perception and attitude of this disease in a given population. Therefore, this study assessed the knowledge and attitud...

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Autores principales: Tsadik, Afewerki Gebremeskel, Teklemedhin, Mezgebe Zeru, Mehari Atey, Tesfay, Gidey, Meles Tekie, Desta, Desilu Mahari
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Hindawi 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7281839/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32549889
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/3495165
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author Tsadik, Afewerki Gebremeskel
Teklemedhin, Mezgebe Zeru
Mehari Atey, Tesfay
Gidey, Meles Tekie
Desta, Desilu Mahari
author_facet Tsadik, Afewerki Gebremeskel
Teklemedhin, Mezgebe Zeru
Mehari Atey, Tesfay
Gidey, Meles Tekie
Desta, Desilu Mahari
author_sort Tsadik, Afewerki Gebremeskel
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The overall well-being, sense of stigmatization, and treatment outcome of persons with vitiligo are largely dependent on their social acceptance and this is linked with perception and attitude of this disease in a given population. Therefore, this study assessed the knowledge and attitude of the public towards vitiligo. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was carried out using a self-reported questionnaire distributed to adults living in Mekelle city, Northern Ethiopia from August to November 2019. Individuals who were 18 to 65 years of age and not suffering from vitiligo were included in the study. A self-administered questionnaire that contains a demographic, knowledge, and attitudes parts was used to collect data. Data were entered using Epi Data® version 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS® version 21. RESULTS: Of the total 368 subjects, 300 completed the questionnaires giving 81.5% response rate. The mean age was 30 ± 8.3 years and the male-to-female ratio was 1.14 : 1. Friends or families were reported as the most common source of information (70%) about vitiligo. The overall vitiligo knowledge was sufficient in 68.3% of the participants. Higher vitiligo-related knowledge scores were recorded by people older than 30 and below 50, those of secondary school graduated or more, urban-dwellers, persons who had heard about vitiligo, and persons having families or friends affected by vitiligo. Attitudes towards vitiligo were positive in 43.3% of participants. This was more prevalent among employed persons, those of secondary school graduated or more, and persons having families or friends affected by vitiligo. Moreover, sufficient knowledge was significantly related to positive attitudes towards the disease (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Even though the majority of the respondents had sufficient knowledge, we still found misconceptions and negative attitudes towards vitiligo. Therefore, it is still crucial to educate the public about vitiligo to ultimately improve the well-being of patients with vitiligo.
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spelling pubmed-72818392020-06-16 Public Knowledge and Attitudes towards Vitiligo: A Survey in Mekelle City, Northern Ethiopia Tsadik, Afewerki Gebremeskel Teklemedhin, Mezgebe Zeru Mehari Atey, Tesfay Gidey, Meles Tekie Desta, Desilu Mahari Dermatol Res Pract Research Article BACKGROUND: The overall well-being, sense of stigmatization, and treatment outcome of persons with vitiligo are largely dependent on their social acceptance and this is linked with perception and attitude of this disease in a given population. Therefore, this study assessed the knowledge and attitude of the public towards vitiligo. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was carried out using a self-reported questionnaire distributed to adults living in Mekelle city, Northern Ethiopia from August to November 2019. Individuals who were 18 to 65 years of age and not suffering from vitiligo were included in the study. A self-administered questionnaire that contains a demographic, knowledge, and attitudes parts was used to collect data. Data were entered using Epi Data® version 3.1 and analyzed using SPSS® version 21. RESULTS: Of the total 368 subjects, 300 completed the questionnaires giving 81.5% response rate. The mean age was 30 ± 8.3 years and the male-to-female ratio was 1.14 : 1. Friends or families were reported as the most common source of information (70%) about vitiligo. The overall vitiligo knowledge was sufficient in 68.3% of the participants. Higher vitiligo-related knowledge scores were recorded by people older than 30 and below 50, those of secondary school graduated or more, urban-dwellers, persons who had heard about vitiligo, and persons having families or friends affected by vitiligo. Attitudes towards vitiligo were positive in 43.3% of participants. This was more prevalent among employed persons, those of secondary school graduated or more, and persons having families or friends affected by vitiligo. Moreover, sufficient knowledge was significantly related to positive attitudes towards the disease (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Even though the majority of the respondents had sufficient knowledge, we still found misconceptions and negative attitudes towards vitiligo. Therefore, it is still crucial to educate the public about vitiligo to ultimately improve the well-being of patients with vitiligo. Hindawi 2020-05-31 /pmc/articles/PMC7281839/ /pubmed/32549889 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/3495165 Text en Copyright © 2020 Afewerki Gebremeskel Tsadik et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Tsadik, Afewerki Gebremeskel
Teklemedhin, Mezgebe Zeru
Mehari Atey, Tesfay
Gidey, Meles Tekie
Desta, Desilu Mahari
Public Knowledge and Attitudes towards Vitiligo: A Survey in Mekelle City, Northern Ethiopia
title Public Knowledge and Attitudes towards Vitiligo: A Survey in Mekelle City, Northern Ethiopia
title_full Public Knowledge and Attitudes towards Vitiligo: A Survey in Mekelle City, Northern Ethiopia
title_fullStr Public Knowledge and Attitudes towards Vitiligo: A Survey in Mekelle City, Northern Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Public Knowledge and Attitudes towards Vitiligo: A Survey in Mekelle City, Northern Ethiopia
title_short Public Knowledge and Attitudes towards Vitiligo: A Survey in Mekelle City, Northern Ethiopia
title_sort public knowledge and attitudes towards vitiligo: a survey in mekelle city, northern ethiopia
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7281839/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32549889
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/3495165
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