Faculty of Public Health, Burapha University, Chonburi, Thailand
Copyright © 2021 The Korean Society for Preventive Medicine
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors have no conflicts of interest associated with the material presented in this paper.
FUNDING
This project was supported by the Faculty of Public Health at Burapha University.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Conceptualization: ML, NM, AW, PA. Data curation: ML. Formal analysis: ML. Funding acquisition: ML, NM, AW, PA. Methodology: ML, NM, AW, PA. Project administration: ML. Visualization: ML. Writing – original draft: ML. Writing – review & editing: ML, NM, AW, PA.
Characteristics | n (%) or mean±SD |
---|---|
Gender | |
Boys | 108 (37.6) |
Girls | 179 (62.4) |
School | |
No. 1 in area 1 | 51 (17.8) |
No. 2 in area 2 | 27 (9.4) |
No. 3 in area 2 | 15 (5.2) |
No. 4 in area 3 | 53 (18.5) |
No. 5 in area 4 | 57 (19.9) |
No. 6 in area 5 | 44 (15.3) |
No. 7 in area 6 | 40 (13.9) |
Residence in an area with rabid dogs | |
No | 141 (49.1) |
Yes | 146 (50.9) |
Father's occupation | |
Unemployed / stay-at-home father / deceased | 21 (7.7) |
Employed | 70 (25.6) |
Self-employed | 129 (47.3) |
Other | 67 (19.4) |
Mother's occupation | |
Unemployed / stay-at-home mother / deceased | 49 (17.1) |
Employed | 61 (21.3) |
Self-employed | 110 (38.3) |
Other | 67 (23.3) |
Favorite media platform | |
None | 3 (1.1) |
YouTube | 114 (40.4) |
TikTok | 104 (36.9) |
Other | 66 (21.6) |
Daily time spent consuming favorite media (hr) | |
<1 | 65 (22.6) |
≥1 to <2 | 76 (26.5) |
≥2 to <3 | 60 (20.9) |
≥3 to <4 | 32 (11.1) |
≥4 | 54 (18.8) |
Pet ownership (mammal) | |
No | 114 (39.7) |
Yes | 173 (60.3) |
Dog ownership | 123 (42.9) |
Dog only | 67 (23.3) |
Dog and cat | 50 (17.4) |
Dog and other mammals | 3 (1.0) |
Dog and cat and other mammals | 3 (1.0) |
Cat ownership | 95 (33.1) |
Cat only | 42 (14.6) |
Cat and dog | 50 (17.4) |
Cat and other mammals | 0 (0.0) |
Cat and dog and other mammals | 3 (1.0) |
Other mammal ownership | 14 (4.9) |
Other mammals only | 8 (2.8) |
Other mammals and dog | 3 (1.0) |
Other mammals and cat | 0 (0.0) |
Other mammals and dog and cat | 3 (1.0) |
No. of dogs | 1.26±2.30 |
0 | 164 (57.1) |
1 | 46 (16.0) |
2 | 29 (10.1) |
≥3 | 48 (16.7) |
No. of cats | 0.89±2.00 |
0 | 192 (66.9) |
1 | 40 (13.9) |
2 | 25 (8.7) |
≥3 | 30 (10.5) |
No. of other mammals | 0.14±1.50 |
0 | 273 (95.1) |
1 | 10 (3.5) |
≥2 | 4 (1.4) |
History of animal bites, scratches, or licks at a wound site within the past year | |
No | 153 (53.3) |
Yes | 134 (46.7) |
History of animal bites within the past year | |
No | 226 (78.7) |
Yes | 61 (21.3) |
History of animal scratches within the past year | |
No | 188 (65.5) |
Yes | 99 (34.5) |
History of animal licks at a wound site within the past year | |
No | 276 (96.2) |
Yes | 11 (3.8) |
Variables | Agree | Unsure | Disagree | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Perceived severity (PS) | ||||
PS1: If you have a rabies infection, you will die | 65 (22.6) | 174 (60.6) | 48 (16.7) | |
PS2: The rabies virus primarily damages the brain | 65 (22.6) | 189 (65.9) | 33 (11.5) | |
PS3: Dogs and cats who are infected with rabies will perish within 10 d | 46 (16.0) | 189 (65.9) | 52 (18.1) | |
PS4: If you get bitten and infected by a rabid dog and are not medically treated, you will die | 154 (53.7) | 104 (36.2) | 29 (10.1) | |
Perceived vulnerability (PV) | ||||
PV1: You can get rabies if you play with an unknown dog or cat | 95 (33.1) 139 (48.4) | 53 (18.5) | ||
PV2: If you get scratched by a cat and immediately tell your parents or teachers, you will have a greater chance of avoiding rabies infection | 160 (55.7) | 65 (22.6) | 62 (21.6) | |
PV3: If after being bitten you wash the wound with clean water and soap several times for at least 15 min, you will have a greater chance of not contracting a rabies infection | 195 (67.9) | 61 (21.3) | 31 (10.8) | |
Response efficacy (RE) | ||||
RE1: I think that telling a parent or teacher immediately after being scratched by a cat will help to prevent a rabies infection | 162 (56.4) | 79 (27.5) | 46 (16.0) | |
RE2: I think that informing parents or people about the annual rabies animal vaccination will help to prevent rabies infection | 193 (67.2) | 75 (26.1) | 19 (6.6) | |
RE3: I think avoiding ownerless cats and dogs is a good method to prevent rabies infection | 194 (67.6) | 53 (18.5) | 40 (13.9) | |
RE4: I think not intervening with animals when they are fighting will help to prevent rabies infection | 200 (69.7) | 53 (18.5) | 34 (11.8) | |
Self-efficacy (SE) | ||||
SE1: I am confident that if I do not interfere with unknown animals, I will reduce my risk of contracting rabies | 208 (72.5) | 59 (20.6) | 20 (7.0) | |
SE2: I am confident that I can reduce my risk of contracting rabies by informing local individuals to vaccinate their pets | 204 (71.1) | 68 (23.7) | 15 (5.2) | |
SE3: I am confident that if I immediately inform my teachers/parents after being bitten, scratched, or licked by a mammal, I can reduce my risk of contracting rabies | 237 (82.6) | 33 (11.5) | 17 (5.90) | |
SE4: I am confident that if I can identify an animal that scratched me, I can reduce my risk of contracting rabies | 70 (24.4) | 149 (51.9) | 68 (23.7) | |
SE5: I am confident that if I wash a wound with soap and water for 15 min (WASH15) after being bitten, scratched, or licked by an unknown animal, I can reduce my risk of contracting rabies | 171 (59.6) | 94 (32.7) | 22 (7.7) | |
SE6: I am confident that if I do not intervene with fighting dogs, I can reduce my risk of contracting rabies | 248 (86.4) | 21 (7.3) | 18 (6.3) | |
Rabies protective behaviors (PB) | ||||
PB1: I will inform local individuals to annually vaccinate their pets | 33 (11.5) | 105 (36.6) | 149 (51.9) | |
PB2: I will immediately inform teachers/parents if I am bitten or scratched by a mammal even if the wound does not bleed | 114 (39.7) | 115 (40.1) | 58 (20.2) | |
PB3: I will immediately inform teachers/parents if I witness a friend getting bitten, scratched, or licked at a wound site by a mammal | 91 (31.7) | 130 (45.3) | 66 (23.0) | |
PB4: I will wash the wound with soap and water (15 min) if I am bitten, scratched, or licked at a wound site by a mammal | 87 (30.3) | 139 (48.4) | 61 (21.3) |
Variables | Coefficient | SE | p-value |
---|---|---|---|
Perceived vulnerability | |||
Media | 0.160 | 0.061 | 0.009 |
Gender | -0.160 | 0.066 | 0.015 |
PMT constructs | |||
Perceived vulnerability | 0.098 | 0.024 | 0.000 |
Response efficacy | 0.477 | 0.019 | 0.000 |
Self efficacy | 0.741 | 0.023 | 0.000 |
Rabies protective behaviors | |||
PMT constructs | 0.298 | 0.053 | 0.000 |
School No. 4 | -0.228 | 0.058 | 0.000 |
Values are presented as number (%).
SE, standard error; PMT, protection motivation theory.