TABLE 5.
Agreement with different myths using a Likert scale (mean ± SD)a
| Item (myths) | Pretest | Posttest | Main effect for teaching intervention (pretest vs. posttest) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EG (mean ± SD) | CG (mean ± SD) | EG (mean ± SD) | CG (mean ± SD) | F test | ηp² | |
| M1: You can’t see a bed bug. (wrong) | 2.94 ± 1.42 | 2.96 ± 1.45 | 1.53 ± 1.12 | 2.01 ± 1.32 | F(1, 192) = 92.51***,b | 0.33 |
| M2: Bed bugs live in dirty places. (wrong) | 3.15 ± 1.18 | 3.19 ± 1.25 | 1.42 ± 0.99 | 1.37 ± 0.89 | F(1, 193) = 306.36*** | 0.61 |
| M3: Bed bugs transmit diseases. (wrong) | 3.23 ± 1.09 | 3.27 ± 1.08 | 1.45 ± 0.82 | 1.74 ± 1.12 | F(1, 193) = 257.68*** | 0.57 |
| M4: Bed bugs won’t come out if the room is brightly lit. (wrong) | 2.71 ± 1.03 | 2.70 ± 1.04 | 2.52 ± 1.44 | 2.41 ± 1.32 | F(1, 193) = 4.45* | 0.02 |
| M5: Pesticide applications alone will easily eliminate bed bug infestations. (wrong) | 3.09 ± 0.97 | 2.93 ± 0.94 | 2.88 ± 1.35 | 2.64 ± 1.42 | F(1, 191) = 4.41* | 0.02 |
a1 = low agreement to 5 = high agreement (theoretical scale mean: 2.5; values above 2.5 indicate agreement). F values refer to a main effect for teaching intervention (pretest vs. posttest) calculated through rmANOVA; no interaction effects of teaching intervention × treatment (live bed bugs vs. picture) were found except for myth M1. The levels of significance refer to the F test from repeated-measures analysis of variance (rmANOVA): nsp > 0.05; *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; effect size partial eta-square (ηp²). EG, experimental group (live bed bug); CG, control group (picture).
bThere was a marginally significant interaction effect of teaching intervention × treatment, F(1, 192) = 3.62, p = 0.059. That is, in the experimental group (live bed bug), there was significantly more agreement with this statement in the posttest compared with the pretest than in the control group (picture).