DEFENDING AGAINST DENGUE: A PILOT STUDY OF KAP ON DENGUE PREVENTION AMONG RESIDENTS IN SS 3 PETALING JAYA

Abstract

Dengue fever is the most common vector-borne disease and major concern issues in Malaysia. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate factors influencing knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding dengue fever among residents in Taman Subang SS 3 Petaling Jaya. A total of 81 residents were incorporated into a descriptive, public based cross-sectional study. The questionnaires were formulated to include several questions on demographic data, knowledge, attitude, and practice concerning dengue fever. Most of the respondents were from the age group of 39-58 (35.8 %). The largest representations of the participants were Malay (61.7%), tertiary level is the highest education level (70.4 %), and most of the residents were conscious about dengue fever eruption. Television/radio was voted as the frequent source of information (97.3 %). There was significant correlation found between attitude and practice score to socio-demographic characters. However, a good practice towards dengue fever is associated with good knowledge nevertheless it did not influence their attitude. Moreover, the attitude seems to be poor regardless of knowledge level. Therefore, more practices to raise the awareness of population towards dengue fever such as health campaigns and health education in community level should be initiated. These activities will aid in fertilizing better attitude and prevention towards dengue fever and bring down its incidence in Malaysia.