A study of knowledge and awareness about hepatitis B in patients who applied to the hospital in Tokat province

Chronic Hepatitis B infection is a global health problem. It causes liver associated mortality and morbidity and affects over 200 million people all over the world. According to World Health Organization, the prevalence in Turkey is still 2-8%. The programs of World Health Organization and Ministry of Health for viral hepatitis prevention and elimination shows that the most important factor is awareness of the disease. There are tools such as surveys and scales for measuring and evaluating the results of abstract concepts such as awareness. Since there was no valid Hepatitis B Awareness scale in our country we have aimed to develop it in our study. A "Hepatitis B Awareness Scale" was developed and hepatitis B diagnosed patients of our clinic were evaluated. Literature review and similar study examples were examined and a question pool with 70 items composed of 4 sub-dimensions was developed. Question pool's content validity analysis was made with the specialist opinion of 5 Gastroenterologists. Factor analysis method was applied for construct validity analysis of the question pool. As a result of the analyses a 47 item trial form was made and it was applied to 50 participants. Factor analysis for question pool content validity was used. Test re-test analysis, item analysis, sub-upper group reliability analysis, and trial form internal consistency analysis for reliability analysis were applied. As a result of the analysis "Hepatitis B Awareness Scale" with 16 items was made. Sample size was determined by multiplying the number of the items by 5 and was found to be at least 80 people. The study was made with 135 participants from Gaziosmanpaşa University Research and Practice Hospital's Gastroenterology clinic. After examining the answers received for the questions, "Hepatitis B is an important health problem in Turkey" was found to be the most correctly answered question with 83% rate, "It is not transmitted by touch/handshake" was the question with most false answers with 34.1% rate, and "Hepatitis B is caused by a virus" was the question with most don't know answers. When the total score of the scale was evaluated, it was seen that women scored higher on average than men (p=0.047). When the relationship between F1 sub-dimension and demographic information was examined, income level (p=0.035) and used drug status (p=0.007) were found to be statistically significant. In the F2 dimension, income level (p=0.030) and the used drug (p=0003) were found to be statistically significant regarding the drug usage. Gender variable (p=0.002) and occupational group variable (p=0.008) were found to be statistically significant in F3 dimension. In the F4 sub-dimension, female (p=0.011) in the gender variable, housewife in occupation (p=0.021), and HBeAg negative chronic infection (p=0.022) in the hepatitis status variable was found to be statistically significant. Generally in our country, Hepatitis B patients were observed with adequate information regarding the disease. Regarding all dimensions and total dimensions generally, the rate of knowledge was relatively high compared to other countries. Since this scale is applied in patients with hepatitis B, it is thought that the average score value is higher than the normal population. In general, it was seen that education and income level did not have much effect on awareness. In particular, low scores were observed in the F2 dimension, which is the Dimension of Hepatitis B Contagion by Contact. We think that this awareness scale that we have developed can be used in other awareness studies done in any population in Turkey. Applying this scale to normal people and determining the level of awareness may be beneficial in terms of preventing Hepatitis B and related complications in our country.