Foondun Taslima, Pottas Lidia, Soer Maggi
Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Department of Speech Therapy and Audiology, Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital, Mauritius.
J Public Health Afr. 2023 Oct 1;14(10):2497. doi: 10.4081/jphia.2023.2497. eCollection 2023 Oct 31.
Mauritius does not have community health workers trained in identifying risk factors for hearing loss or in referring patients for diagnostic testing. It is crucial to gather information about the knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss among community health workers before involving them in the identification and intervention of hearing loss in Mauritius. To describe the knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss among community health workers in Mauritius. A descriptive survey design with quantitative analysis was used. Using non-probability purposive sampling, 125 community health workers which included 94 community health officers and 31 community-based rehabilitation officers were recruited from the five catchment areas of the public healthcare sector. Participants filled in a 15-item paper-based questionnaire on the knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss. The questionnaire was internally consistent, with Cronbach alpha scores of 0.759 and 0.863. The overall knowledge of community health workers regarding risk factors and the identification of hearing loss was poor (38.3%). 92.6% of community health workers reported positive attitudes toward hearing loss. General knowledge of hearing loss (P=0.015) and knowledge of risk factors and identification of hearing loss (P=0.005) were significant predictors of attitudes toward hearing loss. Knowledge of and attitudes toward hearing loss were significantly associated with working experience and practice setting (P=0.004). There remains a need to educate community health workers about the risk factors and identification of hearing loss to ensure timely diagnosis and management of hearing loss at the community level.
毛里求斯没有经过培训以识别听力损失风险因素或为患者转诊进行诊断测试的社区卫生工作者。在让毛里求斯的社区卫生工作者参与听力损失的识别和干预之前，收集他们对听力损失的知识和态度的信息至关重要。描述毛里求斯社区卫生工作者对听力损失的知识和态度。采用了带有定量分析的描述性调查设计。使用非概率目的抽样，从公共医疗部门的五个集水区招募了125名社区卫生工作者，其中包括94名社区卫生官员和31名社区康复官员。参与者填写了一份关于听力损失知识和态度的15项纸质问卷。该问卷具有内部一致性，克朗巴哈α系数分别为0.759和0.863。社区卫生工作者对风险因素和听力损失识别的总体知识较差（38.3%）。92.6%的社区卫生工作者报告对听力损失持积极态度。听力损失的一般知识（P=0.015）以及风险因素和听力损失识别的知识（P=0.005）是听力损失态度的重要预测因素。对听力损失的知识和态度与工作经验和实践环境显著相关（P=0.004）。仍有必要对社区卫生工作者进行关于听力损失风险因素和识别方面的教育，以确保在社区层面及时诊断和管理听力损失。
