Assessment of knowledge attitudes and practices regarding antibiotics use in Kuanthani subdistrict Kantang district Trang province Thailand

Abstract

A cross-sectional descriptive study was used to study knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding antibiotics use. The overall sample size was 396 study subjects. The tool for data collection was a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Chi square, and Spearman’s correlation were used as statistical measurement. Most of the study participants were female (74.49%), almost half of them were belong to the age group 18-29 years old (45.20%), most of them were Buddhism (74.75%), around half of them were married (50.25%), the majority finished secondary school or vocational school (31.25%), worked in non-agricultural sector (68.18%), had monthly income less than 7,000 Baht (42.97%), had no underlying diseases (71.97%), and currently used some medication within last 3 months (78.03%), respectively. The majority (41.16%) of the study subjects had high knowledge level. The moderate knowledge level was 40.91% and low knowledge level was 17.93%, respectively. The mean knowledge score was 10.43 + 2.84. The maximum knowledge score was 16. The minimum knowledge score was 3. The majority (75.13%) of the study subjects had moderate attitude level, follow by 65 subjects (16.67%) with poor attitude level, and 32 subjects (8.21%) with good attitude level, respectively. The mean attitude score was 2.49 + 0.39.The maximum attitude score was 3.00; the minimum attitude score was 1.27. The majority (69.59%) of the study subjects had moderate practice level; follow by 65 subjects (16.75%) had poor practice level, and 53 subjects (13.66%) had good practice level, respectively. The mean practice score was 2.68 + 0.22.The maximum practice score was 3.00, the minimum practice score was 1.81. There were significant associations between knowledge with gender (p = 0.001), age (p < 0.001), marital status (p < 0.001), education (p < 0.001), and monthly income (p= 0.005), respectively. Female, younger age group, unmarried person, person who receive higher education, and person with lower income tend to had better knowledge about antibiotics. There were significant associations between attitude with gender (p < 0.001), age (p < 0.001), marital status (p = 0.008), education (p < 0.001), monthly income (p = 0.001), co-morbid disease of the study subjects (p = 0.013), and current medication use within last 3 months of the study subjects (p = 0.005). Female, younger age group, unmarried person, person who receive higher education, person with lower income, person who did not have co-morbid disease, and person who used some medications within last 3 months tend to had better attitudes towards antibiotics. There were significant associations between practice with gender (p < 0.001), age (p = 0.007), religion (p = 0.021), education (p =0.006), co-morbid disease (p = 0.003), and current medication use within last 3 months of the study subjects (p = 0.004), respectively. Female, younger age group, person who were Buddhism, person who receive higher education, person who did not have co-morbid disease, and person who used some medications within last 3 months tend to had better practices regarding antibiotics use. There was significant weak positive correlation between knowledge and practice regarding antibiotics use (r = 0.204, p < 0.001). The study subjects who had higher knowledge score were more likely to have better practice regarding antibiotics use. There was significant moderate positive correlation between attitude and practice regarding antibiotics use (r = 0.474, p < 0.001). The study subjects who had better attitude level were more likely to have better practice regarding antibiotics use. Regarding knowledge, attitudes, and practices, the study participants have inadequate knowledge, inappropriate attitudes, and incorrect practices towards antibiotics in many ways. The study recommended an improvement in KAP regarding antibiotics use for appropriateness.