Knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding dengue among non-health undergraduate students of Nepal.

Dengue poses a significant public health concern worldwide. It is identified as a recent emerging infectious disease in Nepal. Understanding the situation and dynamics between knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) related to dengue among students is crucial for effective prevention and control strategies. This study aimed to assess the KAP and their associated factors of dengue among non-health undergraduate students of Nepal to identify gaps and suggest appropriate interventions. A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 429 non-health undergraduate students at eleven Nepalese Universities, with 80% of participants from the four most prominent ones in the country. Self-administered online forms were administered via Google Forms platform predominantly through social media for data collection. Data was cleaned and then exported to IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0 for analysis. Demographic characteristics of respondents were described using descriptive statistics. Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to determine the association between individual characteristics and KAP. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to determine the association between knowledge-attitude, attitude-practice, and knowledge-practice. Statistical significance was determined at the P-value < 0.05. Around half of the participants were female (50.3%). The majority of participants were between 22 to 37 years, unmarried, and belonged to the Brahmin/Chhetri ethnic group. This study demonstrated a significant gap in KAP. Only 15.2% of participants had good knowledge while 25.9% and 68.3% of participants exhibited good attitudes and practices respectively. Marital status (AOR = 3.32, CI: 1.32-8.34), third-year educational level (AOR = 3.59, CI:1.34-9.57), and fourth-year educational level (AOR = 4.93, CI:1.88-12.94) were significantly associated with knowledge regarding dengue. Age (AOR = 1.73, CI: 1.10-3.01) was significantly associated with preventive practice regarding dengue. None of the demographic or socio-economic characteristics of respondents was associated with attitude on dengue. The knowledge-attitude (rka = 0.01), knowledge-practice (rkp = 0.22), and attitude-practice (rap = 0.01) were positively correlated in this study.

Help-seeking behaviour towards anxiety among undergraduate students of Nepal: a web-based cross-sectional study.

Background: Stigma among mental disorders like anxiety has been identified as an important barrier in help-seeking by national policymakers. Anxiety disorders are quite common among college students, and their severity and prevalence are growing. This study aimed to assess help-seeking behavior (HSB) towards anxiety among undergraduate students of Kathmandu University (KU). Methodology: A web-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 422 undergraduate students. General Help-Seeking Questionnaire (GHSQ) tool was used to assess HSB. Frequencies, percentages, mean, and Standard Deviation were calculated to assess the characteristics of the participants. Factors associated with HSB were examined using Chi-Square test. Pearson correlation was determined to find out the association between professional and informal sources for seeking help. All the tests were carried out at the statistically significant level at a P-value of 0.05. Results: The mean (±SD) age was 20.3±1.1 years in this study. This study demonstrated that 36.5 and 17.5% of the participants were extremely likely to seek help from parents and psychiatrists towards anxiety, respectively. Sex (OR=1.5, 95% CI: 1.0-1.3) was significantly associated with parents, education was significantly associated with parents (OR=0.4, 95% CI: 0.2-0.6), and friends (OR=0.5, 95% CI: 0.3-0.9), meanwhile, ethnicity (OR=0.6, 95% CI: 0.4-0.9), and residence (OR=0.5, 95% CI: 0.3-0.8) were significantly associated with psychiatrists and psychologists for help-seeking behavior, respectively. Fear of criticism (34.1%) and stigma (20.3%) were the main reasons for not seeking help among the participants. The maximum number of participants (41.5%) preferred to seek help immediately if they ever experienced anxiety. This study showed professional and informal sources were positively correlated with anxiety (rpi=0.3) at a P-value <0.05. Conclusion: This study showed that students preferred to seek help from informal sources rather than professional sources. In addition, there is still stigma and fear among students regarding mental health. This study suggests that there is a need to have psychosocial intervention at colleges and educational institutions in order to promote professional help-seeking for any mental disorders including anxiety.

Awareness of Cervical Cancer, Risk Perception, and Practice of Pap Smear Test among Young Adult Women of Dhulikhel Municipality, Nepal.

Background: Despite being one of the most preventable forms of cancer, cervical cancer remains an important public health problem, especially in developing countries. However, there is limited evidence regarding awareness and practice of screening for cervical cancer among women in resource-poor settings like Nepal. This study is aimed at assessing the awareness of cervical cancer, risk perception, and practice of Pap smear tests among adult women of Dhulikhel municipality of Kavreplanchowk district in Nepal. Methodology. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 422 women (aged 18-45 years) residing across the Dhulikhel municipality of Nepal. Systematic random sampling method with face-to-face interviews was conducted to collect data. A descriptive analysis was performed to assess the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants. The chi-square test was used to determine the factors associated with risk perception and participants' demographic characteristics. Results: The mean age (±SD) of the participants was 30.7 ± 7.9 years. This study found that around 55% and 38% of women had heard about cervical cancer and Pap smear test, respectively. Of those who had heard of the Pap test, only 37.6% had ever practiced the test. Similarly, 33.2% and 12.1% knew about the correct age group and time interval to perform the Pap test, respectively. Among those who had heard about cervical cancer, nearly 57% had positive perceptions toward cervical cancer. In addition, risk perception of cervical cancer was found to be associated with participant age, family type, and marital status. Conclusion: The women had inadequate knowledge and practice of cervical cancer and Pap smear test. This study concluded the need for a context-specific and effective health awareness program to promote preventive measures for cervical cancer and enhance the practice of Pap smear test in the community.

Knowledge, attitude, and practice of Nepalese residents in the prevention and control of COVID-19: A cross-sectional web-based survey.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused a global public health crisis. Preventive measures to tackle the deadly virus are influenced by people's knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) toward COVID-19. This study aimed to assess the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice toward COVID-19 among Nepalese residents in Nepal. Methodology: A web-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among 755 Nepalese residents across all seven provinces of Nepal. The questionnaire used to determine the KAP of the participants was derived from a previous study conducted in Nepal. Descriptive analysis was done to identify the distribution of socio-economic and demographic characteristics of participants. Factors associated with residents' KAP regarding COVID-19 were examined using Chi-square tests at the significance level of 0.05. Results: The mean age of the participants was 24.6 years. At the time of data collection, 8.2% of the participants had their families in isolation or quarantine center. In this study, 76.4%, 58.0%, and 63.6% of the participants had a good knowledge level, attitude level, and practice level respectively regarding COVID-19. Occupation and marital status were significantly associated with knowledge, attitude, and practice level. Age was significantly associated with knowledge and attitude level. Those participants who had their family members in quarantine were found to have a good level of preventive practice. The knowledge-attitude (rka = 0.184, p < 0.001), attitude-practice (rap = 0.125, p < 0.001) and knowledge-practice (rkp = 0.07, p < 0.05) were positively correlated in this study. Conclusion: This study showed satisfactory awareness regarding COVID-19 among Nepalese residents. Community-based health education programs should be promoted to develop a positive attitude toward healthy practices to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic or any future health crisis.