Table 4.
Knowledge of public health professionals and parents about varicella zoster virus (VZV)
| Professionals (RPHS & CHC combined) | Parents | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medical doctors (N = 162) | Nurses (N = 279) | Total (N = 441) | (N = 491) | |||||||
| Questionnaire item | N | % | N | % | N | % | p-value*,** | N | % | p-value*,*** |
| If you never have had varicella, you can not get herpes zostera | ||||||||||
| Right (correct answer) | 102 | 63.4 | 91 | 32.7 | 193 | 44.0 | <0.0001 | 30 | 6.1 | <0.0001 |
| Wrong | 50 | 31.1 | 124 | 44.6 | 174 | 39.6 | 218 | 44.4 | ||
| Don’t know | 9 | 5.6 | 63 | 22.7 | 72 | 16.4 | 243 | 49.5 | ||
| If the blisters have dried up, you are no longer infectiousa | ||||||||||
| Right (correct answer) | 155 | 95.7 | 264 | 95.3 | 419 | 95.4 | 1.000 | 430 | 87.6 | <0.0001 |
| Wrong | 6 | 3.7 | 9 | 3.2 | 15 | 3.4 | 21 | 4.3 | ||
| Don’t know | 1 | 0.6 | 4 | 1.4 | 5 | 1.1 | 40 | 8.1 | ||
| In general, you will get varicella only once in your lifea | ||||||||||
| Right (correct answer) | 145 | 90.1 | 220 | 79.4 | 365 | 83.3 | 0.004 | 401 | 81.7 | 0.546 |
| Wrong | 14 | 8.7 | 55 | 19.9 | 69 | 15.8 | 69 | 14.1 | ||
| Don’t know | 2 | 1.2 | 2 | 0.7 | 4 | 0.9 | 21 | 4.3 | ||
| What percentage of the Dutch population has had varicella before the age of 12 years?a | ||||||||||
| 50 % | 3 | 1.9 | 15 | 5.4 | 18 | 4.1 | 92 | 18.7 | ||
| 75 % | 42 | 26.1 | 129 | 46.6 | 171 | 39.0 | 252 | 51.3 | ||
| 95 % (correct answer) | 114 | 70.8 | 133 | 48.0 | 247 | 56.4 | <0.0001 | 147 | 29.9 | <0.0001 |
| 100 % | 2 | 1.2 | 0 | 0.0 | 2 | 0.5 | 0 | 0.0 | ||
| How many people visit their general practitioner for varicella in the Netherlands each year? | ||||||||||
| 1 in 5 | 4 | 2.5 | 11 | 4.0 | 15 | 3.4 | 66 | 13.4 | ||
| 1 in 50 | 20 | 12.6 | 68 | 24.5 | 88 | 20.1 | 160 | 32.6 | ||
| 1 in 500 (correct answer) | 76 | 47.8 | 128 | 46.0 | 204 | 46.7 | 0.765 | 175 | 35.6 | 0.001 |
| 1 in 5000 | 59 | 37.1 | 71 | 25.5 | 130 | 29.7 | 90 | 18.3 | ||
| How many people are being hospitalised for varicella or its complications in the Netherlands each year? | ||||||||||
| 1 in 50 | 5 | 3.1 | 54 | 19.5 | 59 | 13.5 | 89 | 18.1 | ||
| 1 in 500 | 7 | 4.3 | 23 | 8.3 | 30 | 6.8 | 77 | 15.7 | ||
| 1 in 5000 | 27 | 16.8 | 59 | 21.3 | 86 | 19.6 | 139 | 28.3 | ||
| 1 in 50000 (correct answer) | 122 | 75.8 | 141 | 50.9 | 263 | 60.0 | <0.0001 | 186 | 37.9 | <0.0001 |
| How many people die due to varicella or its complications in the Netherlands each year?a | ||||||||||
| Less than 10 (correct answer) | 142 | 88.2 | 237 | 85.6 | 379 | 86.5 | 0.471 | 344 | 70.1 | <0.0001 |
| 10–100 | 17 | 10.6 | 33 | 11.9 | 50 | 11.4 | 129 | 26.3 | ||
| 100–1000 | 1 | 0.6 | 2 | 0.7 | 3 | 0.7 | 13 | 2.6 | ||
| More than 1000 | 1 | 0.6 | 5 | 1.8 | 6 | 1.4 | 5 | 1.0 | ||
| Knowledge score VZV**** (max. 5 points) | <0.0001 | <0.0001 | ||||||||
| Limited knowledge (0–2 points) | 6 | 3.8 | 55 | 20.3 | 61 | 14.2 | 177 | 36.0 | ||
| Moderate knowledge (3 points) | 31 | 19.6 | 90 | 33.2 | 121 | 28.2 | 209 | 42.6 | ||
| Good knowledge (4–5 points) | 121 | 76.6 | 126 | 46.5 | 247 | 57.6 | 105 | 21.4 | ||
RPHS = regional public health service; CHC = child health clinic
*Pearson’s χ2 or Fisher’s exact test; p-values in bold indicate results that are considered statistically significant after correction for multiple testing by the Benjamini–Hochberg method at a false discovery rate of 0.05
**P-value for comparison of the proportion with a correct answer (with the exception of the knowledge score) between medical doctors and nurses
***P-value for comparison of the proportion with a correct answer (with the exception of the knowledge score) between professionals and parents
****Knowledge score VZV: sum of the 5 items above with an a where each correct answer was awarded with 1 point, a wrong or missing answer with 0 points