INTRODUCTION:

Japanese Encephalitis (JE) is the brain infection caused by the Japanese Encephalitis Virus (JEV). While most infections result in little or no symptoms, occasional inflammation of brain occurs¹. Mosquitoes, specifically those of the Culex type are held responsible for spreading Japanese encephalitis virus. Japanese encephalitis vaccine, which is both safe and effective towards Japanese encephalitis disease. Other measures include avoiding mosquito bites². Japanese encephalitis claims 10,000 to 15,000 lives a year as per the estimation of World Health Organization (WHO). Annually, cases ranges from <1 to >10 per 100000 population or it may be higher during outbreaks. In Asia, people living in areas at risk are approximately 3 billion people including 700 million children. Symptomatic Japanese encephalitis is rare but the case fatality rate may increase to 30% in the patients with Japanese encephalitis and also 30%-50% cases of Japanese encephalitis may show permanent neurologic or psychiatric problems³. Countries like India, Pakistan, Nepal, Burma, Sri Lanka, China, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, and Philippines are the areas with proven epidemics of Japanese encephalitis. The geographic areas affected by Japanese encephalitis virus have expanded in the past 50 years⁴.

A study shows that between 2008 to 2014, there had been more than 44000 cases and nearly 6000 deaths from encephalitis in India. In 2016, 11651 cases and 1301 deaths reported to the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), mostly from Uttar Pradesh followed by West Bengal, Assam and Bihar⁵.

OBJECTIVES:

· To evaluate the effectiveness of structured teaching programme on Japanese Encephalitis by comparing pre and post-test knowledge scores.

· To identify the association between pre- test knowledge score regarding Japanese Encephalitis with selected socio-demographic variables.

HYPOTHESES:

Hypotheses was tested at 0.05 level of significance.

H₁ - There is a significant difference between mean of pre-test and post-test knowledge score of adults on Japanese Encephalitis.

H₂ - There is a significant association of pre-test knowledge score of adults on Japanese Encephalitis with selected demographic variables.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Formal permission was obtained from the Institutional Human Ethical Committee and Head of the Village of the selected rural community to conduct the research project. It was a Pre experimental one group pre-test post-test research design study compromising of 130 adults of age group between 21-60 years. Non probability convenient sampling technique was used to select the sample. Data were collected using Demographic data, structured knowledge questionnaire on Japanese Encephalitis for one month from the adults of the selected rural community, Kamrup, Assam. On the same day of pre-test, structured teaching program was administered to the adults and after 1week post test was conducted using the same structured questionnaire regarding Japanese Encephalitis to assess the knowledge of adults. The data in the study were analyzed by Descriptive and inferential statistics.

RESULTS:

DESCRIPTION OF DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES OF ADULTS:

· Age: In the present study, the collected data shows that majority of adults (32.30%) belonged to the age group of 41-50 years, 24.61% of the adults were in the age group of 51- 60 years, 22.30% of the adults were in the age group of 31- 40 years and 20.76% of the adults were in the age group of 21- 30 years.

· Gender: About gender, the majorities (56.92%) of the adults were female and 43.07% of the adults were male.

· Marital status: In the present study, the majorities (44.61%) of the adults were married, 41.54% of the adults were unmarried, 10.77% adults were widow/widower and 3.08% of the adults were divorced/separated.

· Type of family: The majority (54.62%) of the adults was from nuclear family, 41.54% of the adults belong to joint family and 3.84% of the adults were from extended family.

· Educational Status: Regarding educational status, most (33.84%) of the adults had primary education, 26.92% of the adults were matriculate, 20% of the adults were senior secondary and 19.23% adults were graduate or more.

· Occupation: Majority (34.61%) of the adults was employed, 34.61% of the adults were unemployed and 30.76% of the adults were self-employed.

· Family Income (per-month): Regarding family income, most (34.61%) of the adults belonged to family income of <5000, 25.38% of the adults belonged to family income of >20000, 22.30% of adults belonged to family income of 5001 – 10000 and 17.69% of the adults belonged to family income of 10001-20000.

· Type of house: The majority (39.23%) of the adults have semi-pucca house, 31.53% of the adults have kutcha house and 29.23% of the adults have pucca house.

· Drainage system: In the present study, majorities (76.92%) of the adults have open drainage system and 23.07% of the adults have closed drainage system.

· Use of mosquito net: Majorities (74.61%) of the adults use mosquito net and 25.38% of the adults do not use mosquito net.

· Rearing of pigs: Majorities (86.92%) of the adults do not rear pigs and 13.08% of the adults are involved in rearing of pigs.

· Previous family history of JE: In the present study, majority (89.23%) of the adults do not have previous history of JE and 10.76% of the adults have previous history of JE.

DESCRIPTION OF KNOWLEDGE ON JAPANESE ENCEPHALITIS OF ADULTS BEFORE AND AFTER IMPLEMENTATION OF STRUCTURED TEACHING PROGRAM

Table 1. Frequency and percentage distribution of pre-test and post-test knowledge scoreson Japanese Encephalitis of adults n=130

Level of knowledge	Knowledge on Japanese Encephalitis
	Pretest		Post test
	Frequency	%	Frequency	%
GOOD	9	6.9%	102	78.5%
AVERAGE	39	30%	28	21.5%
POOR	82	63.1%	0	0
TOTAL	130	100%	130	100%

Table 1 depicts that the majority of adults 82(63.1%) had poor knowledge, 39(30%) of adults had average knowledge and 9(6.9%) adults had good knowledge before the administration of structured teaching program on Japanese Encephalitis. Most of the adults 102 (78.5%) had good knowledge and 28(21.5%) adults had average knowledge after the administration of structured teaching program on Japanese Encephalitis.

Effectiveness of structured teaching program on knowledge regarding Japanese encephalitis among adults

Table 2. Meandifference, standard deviation difference and t-value for knowledge regarding Japanese encephalitis n=130

Knowledge score

M_D

SD_D

t-value

p-value

Pre test

6.80

1.12

30.69

129

<0.001**

Post test

(**Significant at P<0.05; tabulated ‘t’ – Value = 1.96)

Data presented in Table 2 depicts the comparison (Paired ‘t’ – Test) of knowledge regarding Japanese encephalitis before and after implementation of structured teaching programme on Japanese encephalitis. The mean and standard deviation of pretest knowledge score was 8.92±3.20 and the mean and standard deviation of post- test knowledge score was 15.72±2.08. The t-value was 30.69 (df=129). The computed ‘t’ value (t=30.69, p=<.001) was found statistically highly significant at 0.05 level of significance which showed that mean score of post-test knowledge was significantly higher than the mean score of the pre-test knowledge. Hence, the research hypothesis H₁ is accepted reflecting that the structured teaching program was found effective.

Association of knowledge regarding Japanese encephalitis of adults with demographic variables:

There was no significant association of knowledge regarding Japanese Encephalitis of adults with the age, gender, marital status, drainage system, use of mosquito net, rearing of pigs, and previous family history of JE.

There was significant association of knowledge regarding Japanese Encephalitis of adults with type of family, educational qualification, occupation, family income, and type of house. Thus, the research hypothesis was partially accepted.

DISCUSSION:

Findings related to the selected demographic variables of adults:

In the present study, majority (32.30%) of the adults belonged to 41-50 years of age with most (33.84%) having primary education and more than half (54.62) belonging to nuclear family.

In similar to the findings reported by Datta S, Singh Zet alwho conducted a study on Predictors of knowledge of selected mosquito-borne diseases among adults of selected peri-urban areas of Puducherry which shows that majority 70.31% belongs to age group of >30 years, most of them (79.15%) were literate and more than half (74.37%) belongs to nuclear family⁶.

Findings related to the effectiveness of structured teaching programme on knowledge of adults on Japanese encephalitis:

In this study, the structured teaching program on Japanese encephalitis was effective which showed that mean score of post-test knowledge was significantly higher than the mean score of the pre-test knowledge (t=30.69 , p=<0.05).

Similar finding were reported by Patel PS, Butter BK, who conducted a study to evaluate the effectiveness of planned teaching programme on knowledge regarding role of eco-health in prevention of mosquito-borne diseases depict that there was significant difference suggesting that planned teaching programme was effective in increasing the knowledge of the women (t=29.43)⁷.

Findings related to the association between knowledge and selected demographic variables of adults:

In this study, it shows that there was significant association of knowledge with demographic variables with respect to type of family, educational qualification, and type of house but there was no significant association of knowledge with demographic variables with respect to age, gender, marital status, drainage system, use of mosquito net, rearing of pigs and previous family history.

Similar findings were reported by Basappa CA, who conducted the study to evaluate the effectiveness of structured teaching programme on Chikungunya among adults, shows that there was no significant association between the knowledge and selected demographic variables like age group, sex⁸.

CONCLUSION:

The findings of the study shows that the mean post-test knowledge score was significantly higher than the pre-test knowledge score on Japanese encephalitis among the adults. Therefore the study concludes that the Structured Teaching Program was effective in enhancing the Knowledge on Japanese Encephalitis among the Adults.

REFERENCES:

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2. Advances in encephalitis 2018. Encephalitis society. Cited 2018; 82-87. Available fromhttp://www.encephalitis.info

3. Japanese Encephelitis [cited 2019] available fromhttp://www.who.int/newsroom/details/japanese encephalitis

4. Tiwari S, Dhole TN. Japanese encephalitis: a review of the Indian perspective. BJID. 2012. [Cited 2012 dec]; 16 (6): 564-73. Doi: 10.1016/j.bjid.2012.10.004

5. Granerod J, Crowcroft NS. The epidemiology of acute encephalitis. NCBI. 2007 [cited 2007 oct]; 17(4-5): 406-28. Doi: 10.1080/09602010600989620

6. Bortane AV, Jayanthi V, Datta SS, Singh Z, Joice YS. Predictors of knowledge of selected mosquito borne diseases among adults of selected peri-urban areas of Puducherry. JVBD [Internet]. 2010. 249-56. Available fromhttps://www.researchgate/publication/264787946_474249

7. Pateel P, Butter BK. A study to evaluate the effectiveness of planned teaching programme on Knowledge regarding role of eco-health in prevention of mosquito- borne Diseases among women in selected urban area of Bagalkot, Karnataka. IJCRLS [Internet]. 2018 March. 7 (3): 1358-1363. Available fromhttps://www.ijcrls.com

8. Basappa CA. A study to assess the effectiveness of structured teaching programme by on chikungunya among adults in selected rural community, Banglore. IJNH [Internet]. Cited 2017. 3 (3): 211-19. Available fromhttps://www.ijnursing.com

Received on 03.09.2022 Modified on 23.12.2022

Asian J. Nursing Education and Research. 2023; 13(2):93-96.

DOI: 10.52711/2349-2996.2023.00020