A Study of Knowledge and Attitude about Leprosy among the Physiotherapy Students and Practitioners: A Cross-Sectional Study

Physiotherapy adds quality to the life of people. It provides support to people with disability. Leprosy is such a debilitating condition in which people suffer concerning their functionality and emotional parameters even after bacteriological cure. Leprosy is having several types of social stigmas attached to it which could be the reason for the discrimination among this population. Boosting the knowledge and building up a strong and positive attitude among physiotherapy students and practitioners against leprosy will be of help in overcoming the various multiple taboos associated with this condition. This research work aims at evaluating the knowledge and attitude towards leprosy among physiotherapy students and professionals in India. This study involves 300 voluntary participants from the physiotherapy field (students and professionals) above the age of 18 years from any gender from India, with a good hold on the English language. The response of all the participants was descriptively analyzed. Among study participants the mean score for the knowledge was estimated to be 65.47±14.69. Out of 300 participants, only 72 participants have shown a high level of knowledge with a mean score value of 84.54±5.23, and 228 participants showed a low level with a mean score value of 59.44±11.14. The mean score for the attitude related questions was 54.7±26.21. 189 respondents presented a favorable response with a mean of 71.16±16.56 whereas 111 respondents presented an unfavorable attitude with a mean value of 26.67±11.86. The findings of this research work gave us an insight into the “low-level knowledge” and a relatively “favorable behavior” towards the patient affected by leprosy among the physiotherapy students and practitioners in India. However, still, there is a need to enhance the knowledge and improve attitude among the Physiotherapy students and professionals by educating them and including leprosy in sufficient details in physiotherapy curriculum. Properly designed research cum intervention studies are necessary to understand the gaps in knowledge and attitudinal problems and take remedial measures.