The Impact of Health Education Programs on Reducing Infection Spread

Abstract

The objective of this research is to discover whether or not a health education program can have an impact on reducing the spread of infections in primary schools. To undertake this, the intervention with 10 infectious disease knowledge-based sessions was undertaken on one half of a primary school (A) in this non-equivalent control group study. The second primary school (B), which has pre-intervention knowledge of infectious diseases, was assessed. It was found that, having measured the infectious disease scores through a separate intervention impact assessment at schools A and B, the intervention at school A had a positive impact on the children's knowledge on the subject. Additionally, it was noted that there was a decline in absenteeism attributed to infections during these sessions at school A. This was later verified with a survey undertaken by the school and attendance ratio comparisons between the two schools. In a separate assessment of the impact of this intervention on infection rates, the recorded rates of the top two reported infectious diseases on the Ministry of Health form were measured at both schools A and B. This data suggests that the intervention resulted in a decreased infection rate at school A and was found to have no effect on the infection rates at school B. This result has been further confirmed through interviews with the school nurses and data collected from the school offices. This study has clearly indicated that the utilization of health education in reducing both infection rates and increasing knowledge of infectious diseases among children is effective.