The consciousness levels and attitude of the personel in the ministry of educational about infectious and epidemic diseases: The survey of Tarsus

This thesis study aimed to investigate the current situation regarding the awareness levels and attitudes of teachers and administrators working in public schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in Tarsus district of Mersin province. In our study, the sample of the descriptive and cross-sectional survey consisted of 353 personnel in Tarsus district, which has 3854 teachers. The internal consistency coefficient was found to be alpha=0.931 for 22 questions consisting of 4 factors in the Level of Consciousness scale of the questionnaire, and alpha=0.734 for the 1-factor attitude scale, and the questionnaire was found to be valid and reliable. The data of 435 participants were analyzed in the SPSS 22.0 program. Frequency and percentage inferences were calculated in order to analyze the demographic data of the participants. T-test was used for two independent groups and one-way Anova test was used for more than two independent groups. Scheffe test was used as a complementary post-hoc analysis to determine the differences after the Anova test. As a result of the research, the most common diseases in schools were upper respiratory tract diseases. In terms of the existence of OSYE; 224(51.5%) of our participants have it at their schools, 47(10.8%) do not have it at their schools, 16(37.7%) have no idea about its existence at their schools. In terms of the existence of the White Flag; 200(46%) of our participants have it at their schools, 121 (27.8%) do not have it at their schools, 114(26.2%) have no idea about its existence at their schools. In terms of the existence of My School Clean Certificate; 340(78.2%) of our participants have it at their schools, 28(6.4%) do not have it at their schools, 67(15.4%) have no idea about its existence. 54(12.4%) of our participants are administrators and 381(87.6%) are teachers. The physical measures(4.78), educational activities(3.07), observation(1.98) and attitude(3.91) scores of the administrators were found higher than the teachers. As the average age increases, the level of consciousness scores increase. According to the type of school they work at, the awareness and observation scores of those working in primary schools differ significantly from those working in secondary and high schools. According to gender, the general awareness level of men differs significantly from that of women. According to the correlation analysis, the relationship between the general awareness level of the participants and their attitudes(r=0.74) was found to be high in the positive direction. As a result of the research, suggestions were made to increase the awareness and attitudes of teachers and administrators working in our schools, where we shape our future, about infectious and epidemic diseases, to ensure that health and education personnel work in close contact, and to provide health personnel to schools.