Analysis of Awareness and Quality of Life Towards Superficial Fungal Infection in Three Communities in Jakarta and Bekasi

Abstract

Skin fungal infection has been one of the most lethal infections if not treated properly as they have the ability to invade other systems. Yet, this infection is often neglected especially in Indonesia. Hence, this project aims to produce an educational booklet while also to do socialization to increase awareness towards fungal skin infection in three communities in Jakarta and Bekasi. Participant’s awareness levels was found to increase in general after the socialization occurs, with the trend consistently maintained through three communities. The quality of life (QoL) questionnaires showed that participants from Sant’Egidio participants have a larger effect of skin fungal infection to their QoL compared to participants at Panti Asuhan Calvary and Rumah Belajar Merah Putih. From the gender perspective, it was discovered that male participants had a higher awareness level through questionnaires before and after the socialization, where men are approximately three times more prone to skin fungal infections than women and tend to have the largest effect of skin fungal infection to their QoL. Furthermore, the adult age group has the highest awareness level outcome, followed by the adolescent age group and the children age group. The low level of awareness might cause children to be more susceptible to fungal infections. Adult age groups also tend to have the largest effect of the skin infection to their QoL, followed by the adolescent age group. Lastly, linear regression analysis shows a significance of age and community to QoL which shows that they are the largest factor that contributes highly to the participant’s QoL. These findings aligned with the condition of each community, which may give the biggest impact on participant’s perspective to the skin fungal infection.