Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Areca Nut (kwai) Use among Employees of a Tertiary Health Care Institution in North-East India.

OBJECTIVE

This study strives to look for the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of areca nut use among health care workers in a tertiary hospital in North-East India.

METHODS

A prospective, cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted among all health care and allied workers at a public sector teaching hospital in Meghalaya, Northeast India. A questionnaire, which was validated for content, was administered to the target population. Three domains of learned behavior towards areca nut viz. knowledge (cognitive), attitude (affective) and practice (psychomotor) were assessed. Data was analyzed using SPSS V21.0. Descriptive statistics were used.

RESULT

A total of 434 participants completed the questionnaire. Majority of the respondents [52.8% (229)] had consumed Kwai (Areca nut) in the past 12 months. Kwai was perceived to have beneficial effects by 17.9% (78) of respondents. A total of 76.3% (331), 72.8% (316) and 62.2% (210) of respondents thought that Kwai consumption caused throat, oral and esophageal cancers respectively.48.0% (110) of the respondents swallowed the kwai juice in contrast to 32.4% (69) who spit the kwai juice. 61.6% (141) Kwai chewers tried quitting, out of which 41.8% (59) managed to stay away from Kwai for more than a year but eventually ended consuming Kwai again.62.4% (143) of the respondents claimed that the children in their family/neighbor consumed Kwai.

CONCLUSION

Among our study population, the knowledge about harmful effects of areca nut is good. However, this knowledge has not translated into change in practices.