Department of Public and Allied Health Sciences, Delaware State University, Price Building, Rm 202C, 1200 N DuPont Highway, Dover, DE 19901, USA.
Delaware Division of Public Health, USA.
Ticks Tick Borne Dis. 2018 Mar;9(3):615-622. doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2018.01.006. Epub 2018 Feb 3.
Delaware is among the top 10 states in the United States with the highest incidence for Lyme disease. The Delaware Division of Public Health (DPH) therefore has been working diligently to prevent and control tick-borne diseases through a variety of interventions including awareness campaigns and educational programs. To assess if tick-borne disease related information is reaching Delawareans through these programs, DPH in collaboration with Delaware State University administered an anonymous survey to 1755 participants in all three of Delaware counties during May 2017. The questionnaire assessed individuals' general knowledge about tick-borne diseases and performance of selected tick-borne disease prevention methods Overall, participants' knowledge of tick-borne diseases was poor; only 38.4% of respondents stated that ticks were problematic in Delaware and only 12.7% of respondents "strongly agreed" that Lyme disease is a problem in Delaware. A little over half of the respondents (51.6%) indicated having seen advertisements/infomercials/flyers for protection from ticks or the disease agents spread by ticks; the most common places for viewing these advertisements were doctor's offices and through social media. The reported frequency of performing preventive behaviors was variable and disparities were observed by age, race, gender and county of residence. Existing public health communication efforts on tick-borne diseases in Delaware do not appear to be having the desired effect. This study provides important baseline information to rethink communication channels for education and more effectively guide future tick-borne disease awareness campaigns.
特拉华州是美国 10 个莱姆病发病率最高的州之一。因此，特拉华州公共卫生部 (DPH) 通过各种干预措施，包括宣传活动和教育计划，努力预防和控制蜱传疾病。为了评估这些项目是否通过这些项目向特拉华州人传播与蜱传疾病相关的信息，DPH 与特拉华州立大学合作，于 2017 年 5 月在特拉华州的三个县对 1755 名参与者进行了一项匿名调查。该问卷评估了个人对蜱传疾病的一般认识以及对某些蜱传疾病预防方法的执行情况。总体而言，参与者对蜱传疾病的了解很差；只有 38.4%的受访者表示蜱虫在特拉华州是个问题，只有 12.7%的受访者“强烈同意”莱姆病是特拉华州的一个问题。超过一半的受访者（51.6%）表示曾看到过有关预防蜱虫或蜱虫传播的疾病媒介的广告/信息广告/传单；最常见的查看这些广告的地方是医生办公室和社交媒体。报告的预防行为频率各不相同，且按年龄、种族、性别和居住县存在差异。现有的特拉华州蜱传疾病公共卫生宣传工作似乎并未产生预期效果。这项研究提供了重要的基线信息，有助于重新思考教育的传播渠道，并更有效地指导未来的蜱传疾病宣传活动。
