Assessment of knowledge, attitude, and practice of ear care among Jazan general population, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Abstract Objective The present study aimed at determining the knowledge, attitude, and practice of ear care among Jazan population and its association with sociodemographic variables. Methods This is a cross-sectional study conducted between January and June 2022 in the Jazan region, Saudi Arabia. Data was collected using an Arabic electronically questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS software version 23. Results About 446 of the participants were included in the study. Two-hundred sixty-two (58.7%) of the participants were females. Most of the participants 200 (44.8%) were within the age group of 18–23 years old. Marital status of 315 (70.6%) of the participants was found to be single. Out of a total score of 5, regarding mean ± standard deviation for scores of respondents, knowledge score is 3.7 ± 0.88, 3.7 ± 0.94 for attitude score, and 3.6 ± 1.12 for practice score. About 91.9% of the respondents were found to be having good knowledge about ear care, whereas 8.1% of the participants were considered as having poor knowledge about ear care. In regards to attitude, about 90.4% was having good attitude regarding ear care, and 9.6% was with poor attitude. Considering practice, about 83.9% of the respondents were having good practice. Gender was found to be associated with good practice (p-value = 0.005) with males tend to have better practice compared to females. Educational level was found to be associated with good knowledge about ear care (p-value = 0.006) with university/postgraduate educational level having higher knowledge scores compared to other educational level. Conclusion Good knowledge, attitude, and practices among participants in regards to ear care were documented. Efforts should be directed towards raising the knowledge level, and this will result in improvements in attitudes and practices. This could be accomplished through health education campaigns, community events, and augmentation of the role of media.