Effectiveness of Dengue Awareness Calendar on Indigenous Population: Impact on Knowledge, Belief and Practice

Abstract

Background: Dengue is prevalent among the indigenous community due to impoverished living conditions near the forest fringe areas and lack of health awareness. The study aims to determine the effect of a dengue awareness calendar on knowledge, belief, and practices (KBP) among the indigenous population. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted in nine selected indigenous villages in Selangor, Malaysia. A dengue awareness calendar was distributed to the indigenous communities after pre-intervention. The KBP scores were compared between the pre-and post-intervention. Result: A total of 609 paired responses were obtained. Knowledge, perceived severity, cues to action, self-efficacy, and prevention practices were significantly improved after the intervention (p > 0.00). Participants with primary (Odds Ratio (OR) 2.627; 95% CI 1.338–5.160) and secondary level education (OR 2.263; 95% Cl 1.126–4.550) reported a high increment in practices score. High increments in dengue knowledge scores (OR 2.190; 95% CI 1.521–3.757, p < 0.00) were significantly more likely to report a high increment in practices score. Housewives (OR 0.535; 95% Cl 0.289–0.950), perceived severity (OR 0.349; 95% CI 0.184–0.662), and perceived susceptibility (OR 0.474; 95% CI 0.286–0.785) were significantly less likely to report an increment in prevention practices score. Conclusion: Findings inferred that the dengue awareness calendar significantly improved knowledge and practices. Our findings revealed the effectiveness of the dengue awareness calendar in dengue prevention among indigenous communities.