Cognitive Factors Associated to Pediculosis Preventive Behaviors Among Mothers of School-Age Children in Chaldoran County, Iran

Ali Nezhadali; Towhid Babazadeh; Haidar Nadrian; Hamid Allahverdipour

doi:10.2147/JMDH.S237101

Cognitive Factors Associated to Pediculosis Preventive Behaviors Among Mothers of School-Age Children in Chaldoran County, Iran

J Multidiscip Healthc. 2020 Jan 10:13:19-26. doi: 10.2147/JMDH.S237101. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Ali Nezhadali¹, Towhid Babazadeh², Haidar Nadrian³, Hamid Allahverdipour⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health Education and Promotion, Faculty of Health Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
² Department of Public Health, Sarab Faculty of Medical Sciences, Sarab 14711, Iran.
³ Department of Health Education & Promotion, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz 14711, Iran.
⁴ Research Center of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Health Education & Promotion, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz 14711, Iran.

Abstract

Background: Despite the improvement of living standards and public health as well as conducting the specific programs based on pediculosis control guidelines, Head Lice Infestation (HLI) is still a worldwide health concern. The purpose of this study was to investigate the cognitive factors associated to school-age children's HLI among mothers in an urban community.

Subjects and methods: In this cross-sectional study, a multi-stage cluster random sample of 619 mothers of students in elementary schools of Chaldoran County, located in North-West of Iran, was recruited to participate in the study. Data were collected applying a set of questionnaires including socio-demographic and cognitive-behavioral factors, including Pediculosis Preventive Behaviors (PPBs), HLI knowledge, threat appraisal, as well as HLI prevention perceived self-efficacy, response efficacy, and perceived collective family efficacy.

Results: Statistically significant differences were found in the children's HLI by their mother's age and performance in PPBs (p-value=0.001). Hierarchical multiple linear regressions were performed with PPBs as outcome variable. According to their natures, the predictors for this outcome variable were classified in two different blocks. Demographic characteristics (p > 0.05), and cognitive constructs (p< 0.001) explained 9% and 21.1% of the observed variance in PPBs, respectively. Pediculosis was found as an epidemic among the students, particularly female students, of Chaldoran County, which call for action by health stakeholders and policymakers.

Conclusion: The healthcare providers are recommended to develop HLI prevention programs, within which the mothers and their school-age children as well as school mangers and public places' employers are considered as the core target groups for interventions. Besides PPBs, response efficacy and perceived collective family efficacy to perform the behaviors should be considered as the core categories while designing such prevention programs.

Keywords: collective efficacy; family health; head lice; pediculosis; school health.