Head Lice Infestation in Pre-High School Girls, Lak Hok Suburban Area, Pathum Thani Province, in Central Thailand
Sirima Kitvatanachai, Kanyanan Kritsiriwutthinan, Aree Taylor, Pochong Rhongbutsri
Abstract
This is a cross-sectional descriptive survey to determine the prevalence of lice infestation in a pre-high school, Lak Hok subdistrict, Pathum Thani Province, in central part of Thailand. The knowledge, attitudes, and practices of parents/guardians toward head lice in female children during February–April 2020 were evaluated. A total of 83 out of 111 parents (74.8%) agreed to complete consent forms and questionnaires. The prevalence of pediculosis found in this study was 68.7%. The infestation was found in the primary school level (87.5%), which was significantly higher than pre-primary school (29.6%; <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1"> <a:mi>p</a:mi> <a:mo><</a:mo> <a:mn>0.05</a:mn> </a:math> ). Itching scalp was revealed in 93.0% of pediculosis. The results showed that occupation, religion, education, and income showed no significant difference between lice infested and non-infested students ( <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2"> <c:mi>p</c:mi> <c:mo>></c:mo> <c:mn>0.05</c:mn> </c:math> ). There was no significant association between sex, occupation, religion, education, income, status of parents, and family size among lice infested and non-infested students ( <e:math xmlns:e="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M3"> <e:mi>p</e:mi> <e:mo>></e:mo> <e:mn>0.05</e:mn> </e:math> ). The parents/guardians showed the middle level of knowledge concerning with pediculosis capitis (66.8%). The lack of knowledge leading, first, to the belief that pediculosis does not need any treatment (89.2%), followed by boys getting head lice more frequently than girls (85.5%), and the belief that sharing infested combs, brushes, or hair ribbons does not result in lice transmission (79.9%). More than 75% of the parents/guardians had experienced infestation of head lice and showed themselves willing and able to diagnose and treat their family. However, 50.6% of them did not feel shame when their children were infested with head lice. Children washing their hair by themselves were found to be a significant factor in infestation (88.5%). High rate of pediculosis in this suburban school needs more intensive care by parents/guardians and teachers. Furthermore, improvement strategies to prevent and control lice in the school need to be more specifically planned and scheduled by teachers and health administrators.