Factors Related to Pediculosis Capitis in Children at Catholic Elementary School of Oekabiti, Kupang District

Purpose:

The purpose of the study was to analyze the factors (age,  knowledge of children , personal hygiene, and resident density in the houses) that influence the occurrence of pediculosis capitis in children at Catholic Primary School Oekabiti,  Amarasi Subdistrict, Kupang district

Methods: This is a quantitative research that utilizies analytic correlation with cross-sectional design. 74 respondents were taken as samples through simple random sampling technique with inclusion criteria as follows: grade IV, V, and VI students of Catholic Primary School of Oekabiti and are from low socio-economic background. Informed consent was asked from the students with supervision of their teachers and/or parents. Parents asked to supervise informed consent had to fulfill the following inclusion criteria: understanding of Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) and willingnes to participate in the research. To examine the factors of knowledge and personal hygiene (i.e. taking bath and brushing teeth), questionnaire was simplified with pictures. Researcher also conducted direct observation on children with PC (observing hair and head skin)

Results: Statistical analysis on the collected data showed  that in average the respondents are of 10,31 years of age. More than half of the respondents (52,70%) are girls. 64% respondents suffered from PC and 36% did not. From the knowledge factor, 50% have good knowledge, 34% average, and 16% poor. Analysis on personal hygiene factor showed that  64% have poor personal hygiene status, 28% average, and 8 % good. Resident density analysis showed that 53% belong to poor category, 20% average, and 15% good. Bivariat analysis showed that personal hygiene and resident density have significant relation with PC with p value of 0.010 and 0.000 respectively (α = 0.05). On the other hand, age and knowledge of children do not have significant relation with PC with p value of 0.813 and 0.251 respectively

Conclusion: With the prevalence of 64%, PC is very common in children of school age in Oekabiti and is strongly related to poor personal hygiene and resident density in the houses of  Oekabiti people