Knowledge, attitude and practice survey of horse keepers towards tick & tick-borne diseases

An abstract of the research paper presented to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Malaysia Kelantan, in partial requirement on the course DVT5436 – Research Project. This study assessed the level of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of horse keepers in regard to ticks and tick-borne disease in the east-coast of Malaysia, especially in Kelantan and Terengganu state. Horse owner, horse stable workers were subjected to an anonymous, voluntary, online questionnaire using Google form. Respondents were approached via farm/ stable / barn visit, Cold call, and distribution of questionnaires on horse forum, messaging group. A total of 101 questionnaire responses were collected from the time period of Aug to Nov 2022, 101 respondents were included and analyzed through SSPS and presented in the form of univariate statistical analysis for descriptive statistics. The poor knowledge / awareness to tick and tick-borne diseases due to a shortage of manpower, resources and lack of government attention. The attitude of horse keepers is poor while the implementation of protective measures against ticks and tick-borne disease is not widely adopted. The Practice of horse keepers is moderate as they mainly practice biosecurity, husbandry and management that consist also preventive measure of parasite in general thus indirectly increase the level of practice against ticks and tick-borne disease. There is correlation between sociodemographic variables such as number of horses owned towards knowledge, purpose of horses towards attitude and relationship to horses towards practice. There is also a correlation between knowledge towards attitude and practice. In conclusion, horse keepers have poor knowledge, attitude and moderate practice in ticks and TBDs. Government bodies, veterinary facilities should pay more attention in increasing awareness of horse keepers to more effectively prevent tick and TBDs from spreading.
Keywords: Knowledge-Attitude-Practice (KAP), Tick, Tick-borne-disease (TBD), Kelantan, Horse keeper