Develop and implement educational intervention to control head lice infestation in primary schools for girls in Paveh

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: Pediculosis infection is one of the major residual problems caused by infectious diseases in the 21st century worldwide, which occurs in all human societies at any level of economic and social status, in other words, it crosses all social and economic boundaries. According to scientific predictions, Pediculosis infection can affect nearly one billion people a year. Pediculosis is also a common disease in primary school children in the Middle East and is responsible for the tens of millions of days lost in schools each year. The aim of this study was to design and implement an educational intervention to control Pediculosis infection among primary school girls. Methods: This study is based on Fixed Mixed Methods Designs with a Multi-Phase approach and based on Multimodal educational intervention from the beginning of the 1396 school year to the end of the 1397 school year in Paveh girls' primary schools in three stages. In the first stage, a cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Pediculosis and to select intervention and control groups in girls' schools in the city. The second phase involved the design and implementation of an educational intervention, which itself consists of three more detailed phases: The first phase included an educational needs assessment based on a researcher-made questionnaire based on a conceptual framework derived from the structures of the health belief model. The second phase of a qualitative study was conducted to complete the findings related to educational needs assessment and to gain practical experience on effective strategies for designing and implementing educational intervention in selected schools and based on the opinions of experts. In the third phase, an educational intervention program based on the findings of the second phase of the study was designed and implemented; the results of them were evaluated three and six months after the intervention. The data obtained in the quantitative part were analyzed using Stata 14 software and the qualitative part was analyzed using the content analysis method. Results: The results of this study in a small part show that Pediculosis infection among primary school girls is an average of 6.96%, which according to the definition of the National Association for the Prevention of Head Lice in the United States is considered as an epidemic problem in the area. Findings obtained in the quantitative stage of the study indicate a direct and significant relationship between perceived sensitivity (p <0.05, β = 0.14), perceived barriers (p <0.028, β = -0.11) and perceived severity (p <0.086, β = 0.1) with preventive behaviors of Pediculosis infection in students. The results of quarterly and six-month evaluations after the educational intervention show a significant difference in preventive behavior between students in the intervention and control groups (p <0.001). Factors influencing the reduction of Pediculosis infection were identified according to the suggestions of experts encouraging health behaviors, sensitizing target groups, education, communication between schools, family and health centers and institutionalizing a culture of problem acceptance by the target group. The results of the intervention evaluation show a positive change in the mean of the structures of the expanded health belief model after the intervention compared to before. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the design and development of an educational intervention based on the structures of the developed health belief model can be effective in adopting preventive behaviors from Pediculosis infection among primary school female students. Despite the significant change in students' behavior in the intervention group, the continuation of a multifaceted intervention program designed in this study is recommended to stabilize students' behaviors. The reason is that, because according to the research results, students' performance and perceptions after six months are gradually increasing. This underscores the importance of the ongoing efforts of health educators and school parents throughout the school year to stabilize the behavior of students and their parents.