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Head Lice Infestation in Pre-High School Girls, Lak Hok Suburban Area, Pathum Thani Province, in Central Thailand

This is a cross-sectional descriptive survey to determine the prevalence of lice infestation in a pre-high school, Lak Hok subdistrict, Pathum Thani Province, in central part of Thailand. The knowledge, attitudes, and practices of parents/guardians toward head lice in female children during February...

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Autores principales: Kitvatanachai, Sirima, Kritsiriwutthinan, Kanyanan, Taylor, Aree, Rhongbutsri, Pochong
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Hindawi 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9889157/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36733373
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2023/8420859
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author Kitvatanachai, Sirima
Kritsiriwutthinan, Kanyanan
Taylor, Aree
Rhongbutsri, Pochong
author_facet Kitvatanachai, Sirima
Kritsiriwutthinan, Kanyanan
Taylor, Aree
Rhongbutsri, Pochong
author_sort Kitvatanachai, Sirima
collection PubMed
description This is a cross-sectional descriptive survey to determine the prevalence of lice infestation in a pre-high school, Lak Hok subdistrict, Pathum Thani Province, in central part of Thailand. The knowledge, attitudes, and practices of parents/guardians toward head lice in female children during February–April 2020 were evaluated. A total of 83 out of 111 parents (74.8%) agreed to complete consent forms and questionnaires. The prevalence of pediculosis found in this study was 68.7%. The infestation was found in the primary school level (87.5%), which was significantly higher than pre-primary school (29.6%; p < 0.05). Itching scalp was revealed in 93.0% of pediculosis. The results showed that occupation, religion, education, and income showed no significant difference between lice infested and non-infested students (p > 0.05). There was no significant association between sex, occupation, religion, education, income, status of parents, and family size among lice infested and non-infested students (p > 0.05). The parents/guardians showed the middle level of knowledge concerning with pediculosis capitis (66.8%). The lack of knowledge leading, first, to the belief that pediculosis does not need any treatment (89.2%), followed by boys getting head lice more frequently than girls (85.5%), and the belief that sharing infested combs, brushes, or hair ribbons does not result in lice transmission (79.9%). More than 75% of the parents/guardians had experienced infestation of head lice and showed themselves willing and able to diagnose and treat their family. However, 50.6% of them did not feel shame when their children were infested with head lice. Children washing their hair by themselves were found to be a significant factor in infestation (88.5%). High rate of pediculosis in this suburban school needs more intensive care by parents/guardians and teachers. Furthermore, improvement strategies to prevent and control lice in the school need to be more specifically planned and scheduled by teachers and health administrators.
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spelling pubmed-98891572023-02-01 Head Lice Infestation in Pre-High School Girls, Lak Hok Suburban Area, Pathum Thani Province, in Central Thailand Kitvatanachai, Sirima Kritsiriwutthinan, Kanyanan Taylor, Aree Rhongbutsri, Pochong J Parasitol Res Research Article This is a cross-sectional descriptive survey to determine the prevalence of lice infestation in a pre-high school, Lak Hok subdistrict, Pathum Thani Province, in central part of Thailand. The knowledge, attitudes, and practices of parents/guardians toward head lice in female children during February–April 2020 were evaluated. A total of 83 out of 111 parents (74.8%) agreed to complete consent forms and questionnaires. The prevalence of pediculosis found in this study was 68.7%. The infestation was found in the primary school level (87.5%), which was significantly higher than pre-primary school (29.6%; p < 0.05). Itching scalp was revealed in 93.0% of pediculosis. The results showed that occupation, religion, education, and income showed no significant difference between lice infested and non-infested students (p > 0.05). There was no significant association between sex, occupation, religion, education, income, status of parents, and family size among lice infested and non-infested students (p > 0.05). The parents/guardians showed the middle level of knowledge concerning with pediculosis capitis (66.8%). The lack of knowledge leading, first, to the belief that pediculosis does not need any treatment (89.2%), followed by boys getting head lice more frequently than girls (85.5%), and the belief that sharing infested combs, brushes, or hair ribbons does not result in lice transmission (79.9%). More than 75% of the parents/guardians had experienced infestation of head lice and showed themselves willing and able to diagnose and treat their family. However, 50.6% of them did not feel shame when their children were infested with head lice. Children washing their hair by themselves were found to be a significant factor in infestation (88.5%). High rate of pediculosis in this suburban school needs more intensive care by parents/guardians and teachers. Furthermore, improvement strategies to prevent and control lice in the school need to be more specifically planned and scheduled by teachers and health administrators. Hindawi 2023-01-24 /pmc/articles/PMC9889157/ /pubmed/36733373 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2023/8420859 Text en Copyright © 2023 Sirima Kitvatanachai et al. https://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
Kitvatanachai, Sirima
Kritsiriwutthinan, Kanyanan
Taylor, Aree
Rhongbutsri, Pochong
Head Lice Infestation in Pre-High School Girls, Lak Hok Suburban Area, Pathum Thani Province, in Central Thailand
title Head Lice Infestation in Pre-High School Girls, Lak Hok Suburban Area, Pathum Thani Province, in Central Thailand
title_full Head Lice Infestation in Pre-High School Girls, Lak Hok Suburban Area, Pathum Thani Province, in Central Thailand
title_fullStr Head Lice Infestation in Pre-High School Girls, Lak Hok Suburban Area, Pathum Thani Province, in Central Thailand
title_full_unstemmed Head Lice Infestation in Pre-High School Girls, Lak Hok Suburban Area, Pathum Thani Province, in Central Thailand
title_short Head Lice Infestation in Pre-High School Girls, Lak Hok Suburban Area, Pathum Thani Province, in Central Thailand
title_sort head lice infestation in pre-high school girls, lak hok suburban area, pathum thani province, in central thailand
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9889157/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36733373
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2023/8420859
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