Parents’ risk perception on dengue infection in children: A preliminary explorative study 

Introduction: Even though children and adolescents are vulnerable to dengue infection, parents’ risk perceptions and attitudes regarding dengue infection and prevention have not been explored.
Objectives: To study the parents' perceived threat of children's risk for dengue infection, and its determinants, in a locality with the highest dengue incidence in Sri Lanka.
Method: This is an online survey among parents of 5 to 17-year-old school children in the Colombo district, a region with a high incidence of dengue fever. Parents’ perceived severity, vulnerability and barriers to dengue infection were determined with an online self-administered questionnaire (Cronbach’s reliability: 0.73). Simple and multiple linear regressions were used to estimate factors associated with risk perception.
Results: The mean (SD) risk perception score was 78.3% (9.8%). Mean (SD) percentage scores for perceived vulnerability, perceived severity and barriers of dengue infection were 69.7% (14.6%), 82.7% (12%), and 82.5% (12.3%) respectively. After adjusting for covariates, the following factors had a statistically significant association to risk perception: parents’ educational level (B:2.11, 95% CI:0.919, 3.297, p=0.001), and dengue infection in self/friend/relative (B:1.23, 95% CI:0.275, 2.183, p=0.01).
Conclusions: Respondents’ perceived severity of dengue infection was high, although the perceived vulnerability was comparatively low. The risk perception of this population was associated with educational level, and direct experience of dengue infection.