Table 5.

Mean attitude score regarding schistosomiasis in the two villages

Attitude Scale	Ebiana N = 639	El-Rouse N = 377	t value
Perceived danger of using canals’ water
Despite the presence of public tap water, people still use canals	2.73	1.88	16.26*
Despite having clean water indoors, people still use canals	2.28	2.26	11.26*
People claim that they are used to handle canal’s water, and they had never been infected	2.55	2.57	0.39
Belief that just washing cloths and utensils in canals, doesn’t cause bilharziasis	2.84	2.92	2.80*
Belief that irrigating land bare-footed doesn’t cause bilharziasis	2.83	2.95	4.55*
Belief that swimming in canals once/twice doesn’t cause bilharziasis	2.87	2.95	3.23*
Belief that just washing hands, legs or ablution in canals doesn’t cause bilharziasis	2.27	2.85	3.43*
Subtotal score (out of 21)	19.33	18.39	5.51
Perceived severity of bilharziasis
Belief that bilharziasis is not a serious infection with potentially grave symptoms	2.99	2.98	0.99
Belief that bilharziasis should not make you seriously worried	2.84	2.92	2.48*
Belief that bilharziasis does not seriously affect person’s work capacity	2.95	2.96	0.52
Subtotal score (out of 9)	8.78	8.86	1.87
Perceived benefits of treatment and avoiding canals’ water
Belief that you would never be infected if you had never used canal water	2.03	2.59	9.22
Belief that avoiding urination and defecation in streams will prevent bilharziasis	2.81	2.88	1.95
Belief that medicine from the Health center can cure bilharziasis	3.00	2.96	3.49*
Belief that that repeated urine and stool examination is important	2.97	2.99	1.54
Belief that there is no need for treatment because you are going to be infected again	2.97	2.99	1.54
Subtotal score (out of 15)	13.79	14.41	7.97*
Overall mean total score ± SD(out of 45)	41.89 ± 3.43	41.60 ± 2.83	1.1

*P < 0.005

SD Standard deviation