Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Public School Teachers Regarding Traditional Bone Setters, Khartoum Locality

Background: In Sudan, traditional bone setting (TBS) is still popular and has serious complications. Therefore, awareness and education are essential for TBS. School teachers having a close association with students and parents could be an appropriate medium for health education about TBS after evaluating their awareness. Objectives: To review the knowledge, attitude, and practice among public school teachers toward TBS practice. Methodology: A community-based cross-sectional descriptive study 588 school teachers participated from Khartoum locality, Sudan. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires. Results: Of 588 participants, 246 (41.8%) were males and 342 (58.2%) were females having the age range between 22 and 65 years, and (69.2%) received bachelor’s degrees. Around 249 (42.4%) believed that all/some of the TBSs had good basic knowledge and 331 (56.3%) participants thought that all/ some of the TBSs had clinical knowledge and skills. Half of the participants 300(51%) believed that some/all TBSs knew about trauma complications and 283(48.1%) participants believed that all/some of TBSs can make an accurate diagnosis. The two main reasons for the popularity of TBS were the cost (60%) and illiteracy (52.9%). Most of the teachers (79.8%) will take their injured students directly to the hospital. (41%) teachers visited TBS for themselves, and around 51% showed their commitment to TBS. Most teachers (96%) said that they will advise parents to take their child to the hospital, while only 4% said they will advise taking them to the TBS. In a situation, if the parents insist on taking their child to TBS, the majority (67.7%) teachers will advise the parents to take their students to the hospital. Conclusion: The study demonstrates that most participants’ knowledge level was below expectations and they have a positive attitude and strong beliefs toward the traditional bone setters. Making awareness in society is essential by organizing educational programs introducing how orthopedic hospitals are better for fracture treatment than traditional bone setters.