Knowledge, Attitude and Awareness ofHazards Associated with Use of Cotton Bud in a Nigerian Community

Olajide, Toye Gabriel and Usman, Aminu Mohammed and Eletta, Adebisi Paul (2015) Knowledge, Attitude and Awareness ofHazards Associated with Use of Cotton Bud in a Nigerian Community. international Journal of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery, 4. pp. 248-253. ISSN International Journal of Otolaryngology and Head & Neck Surgery, , , - Published Online May 2015 in

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Abstract

Background: Self-cleaning of ears with a cotton bud is a common practice, and the hazards asso-ciated with such action are well documented. The aim of this study is to find out the knowledge,attitude and awareness on the use of cotton buds among the people of Bida community. Designand Methodology: It is a community based cross sectional descriptive study carried out amongpeople of Bida community. Subjects were selected by multistage sampling technique. Pre-testedsemi-structured questionnaires were used to collect data from 278 young adults and adults’ res-pondents. Results: There were a total number of 278 responses out of 290 respondents inter-viewed (M:F = 1:1.03). Age range was from 18 to 65 years with a mean of 29.64 ± 10.06 SD. Thehighest response was in the age group of 20 - 29 years. About 72.3% of the respondents had ter-tiary education, and 40.3% were civil servants. Majority (92.8%) of the respondents had indulged in the use of cotton buds to clean their ears. Most (57.8%) of those that had used cotton buds didso because of itching in the ears. Only 44.9% of respondents agreed that cotton buds could causedamage to the ears. Many (61.2%) believed that there was benefit of using cotton buds in cleaningthe ears. Majority of the respondents (74.1%) had not got information on the danger of using cot-ton bud in cleaning their ears. Conclusion: From our data in this study, majority of the subjects had indulged in the use of cotton bud in cleaning their ears. And the commonest reason for usingcotton buds is due to itching in the ears. Their Knowledge, attitude and awareness to the use of cot-ton buds are very poor with erroneous believe that there is benefit to its use. There is a need to increase awareness by public enlightenment and health education and to establish school health programme in our various school

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