Hepatitis B care pathway in Jordan: current situation, gaps and recommended actions

Sociodemographic Determinants of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Toward Hepatitis B Infection Among Pregnant Women: A Cross-National Study in Jordan

Background Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) is significant, as most infants infected at birth go on to develop chronic hepatitis B. Vaccination and antiviral treatment during pregnancy could primarily prevent vertical transmission. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess pregnant Jordanian females' knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) toward HBV. In addition, to explore the relationship between the level of KAP toward HBV infection and its predictors. Methods Our cross-sectional study was conducted among pregnant women in Jordan. We enrolled 621 participants between January and April 2023. Our survey was derived from a previously validated tool that was used to investigate a similar aim as our study. The survey was done via Google Forms (Google LLC, Mountain View, California, United States) and it contained questions divided into four main sections: participants' demographics, knowledge section, attitudes section, and practices section. Results The majority of participants have neither a personal nor family history of HBV, and only 91 (14.7%) of the participants had a medical degree. The overall knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) scores were low, as only 176 (28.3%), 315 (50.7%), and 244 (39.3%) of participants achieved high levels of knowledge, attitude, and practice scores, respectively. A significant association was found between knowledge level, practice assessment, and the following variables: age, educational level, job, study field, history of HBV in the family, and source of knowledge. Regarding attitude, a significant association was found with the job, study field, and source of knowledge. Conclusion This study found that pregnant women in Jordan had a low level of awareness of HBV infection. Thus, more efforts should be made to raise awareness about HBV among high-risk groups, especially pregnant women.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices toward Hepatitis B Infection among Healthcare Students-A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study in Jordan

The World Health Organization has estimated that around 66 thousand HBV infection cases are caused by needlestick injuries annually. Healthcare students should be aware of HBV transmission routes and preventive measures. This study assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward HBV among Jordanian healthcare students and its associated factors. A cross-national study was conducted from March to August 2022. The questionnaire was composed of four sections: participants' sociodemographics, knowledge, attitudes, and practices about HBV, and 2322 participants were enrolled. The collected responses were analyzed with SPSS software (version 25 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA)) using descriptive statistics, unpaired t-tests, chi-square tests, and multivariate regression analyses. A p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The results showed that 67.9% were females, 26.4% were medical students, and 35.9% were in their 3rd year. Overall, 40% of the participants held high levels of knowledge and attitudes. Further, 63.9% of participants had good practices toward HBV. Gender, year of study, encountering HBV patients, college, and having extra HBV courses were associated with high levels of KAP. This study demonstrated insufficient knowledge and attitudes toward HBV; however, the practice level toward HBV among healthcare students was promising. Therefore, public health efforts should modify the knowledge and attitude gaps to reinforce awareness and minimize the risk of infection.

Evaluation of hepatitis B knowledge, practices, and beliefs among the Jordanian population: A cross-sectional study

This study aimed to assess the knowledge, practices, and beliefs among the Jordanian population regarding hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. A cross-sectional questionnaire was designed and used to recruit participants from October 5th through December 12th. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to analyse the sociodemographic data, the Shapiro-Wilk test was used to assess the normality, Cronbach's α was used to evaluate the reliability of the questionnaire and Point-biserial correlation was used to figure out whether there is an association between Score of knowledge and the dichotomous variables. A random sample of 432 participated in the study. The majority were females (n = 310, 71.8%), the mean age was 21 (42.0%) years,416 (96.3%) were urban inhabitants and most of them (n = 351, 81.3%) had bachelor's degree. School/university (n = 280, 64.8%) were reported as a major source of information followed by TV/internet/social media 276 (63.9%). The total mean (± SD) of knowledge score regarding HBV infection symptoms, transmission modes and treatment was found 12.28 ± 3.2. Participants' knowledge regarding symptoms including nausea, vomiting and loss of appetite was 73 (16.9%). More than 80% had good knowledge regarding the complications of HBV infection. Only 100 participant reported vaccination (23.1%) against the virus. Poor knowledge and low vaccination rate against HBV were found thus implementing comprehensive educational program for people highlighting the importance of vaccination against the virus is crucial.