A Descriptive Study to Assess the Knowledge of adults regarding Hepatitis A in a selected Rural Community, Kottayam

Abstract

The present study was conducted to assess the knowledge regarding Hepatitis A among adults in a selected community, Kottayam. The objectives of the study were to assess the knowledge regarding Hepatitis A among adults and to find the association between knowledge of adults regarding Hepatitis A and selected demographic variables. Convenience sampling technique was used to select 30 samples from the rural population of Athirampuzha Panchayat. The tools for data collection included semi structured questionnaire for collecting demographic data and a structured questionnaire to assess knowledge regarding Hepatitis A among adults. Pilot study was conducted to assess the feasibility of the study and followed by which data collection was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The result showed that among 30 subjects more than half of the subjects 26(86.6%) had average knowledge and there were equal number of subjects 2(6.7%) having good and poor knowledge regarding Hepatitis A respectively. The study findings revealed that there is no significant association between knowledge of adults regarding Hepatitis A and selected demographic variables. The study concluded that majority of the subjects have only average knowledge regarding Hepatitis A. The findings of the study have implications in nursing practice, nursing education, nursing administration and nursing research. The nurses, who are aware of this evidence, should explore new ways to assess more accurately and identify the problems of rural population who are not knowledgeable and take action to educate them.