Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice (KAP) Among Dentists toward Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in Shiraz, Iran

Author(s): Hamid Reza Farpour, Aref Nasir, Alireza Sadighi, Kayvon Seyed Dehghanian, Faisal Ahmed, Mohammad Hossein Taghrir, Ebrahim Al-Shami, Khalil Al-Naggar

Background: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a common workplace musculoskeletal disorder, and dentists are a high-risk group due to their work conditions. This study aims to obtain a full understanding of knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of CTS among Dentists in Shiraz, Iran.

Methods: Between Jun, 2019 and Dec 2019; A researcher-made questionnaire was developed for this cross-sectional pilot study in order to evaluate the KAP of dentists regarding CTS. Participants were recruited to fill out the questionnaire. The participants were recruited using convenient sampling from dentists working. A 51 dentists have completed the survey. Ethical approval to conduct this study was obtained.

Results: About 31 (60.8%) respondents were female and 20(39.2%) were male. 54.9%. of the participants were aged below 33 years. 66.7%. of dentists had less than 10 years of work experience. No statistically significant correlation was observed between age, and number of years of work experience and KAP scores. But there was significant correlation between gender and knowledge (p =0.04). The mean scores of knowledges were 3.7 ±1.3 which was low to average regarding the prevention and treatment of CTS. The mean scores of attitudes and practice were 10.9 ±3.2 and 7.9 ± 2.1, respectively. Which represent a positive attitude and practice towards regarding the prevention and treatment of CTS. There was a significant correlation between attitude and practice among dentists with p =0.001.

Conclusion: Most dentists in this study had low to average knowledge, high attitudes, and high practice scores of the prevention and treatment of CTS.