الفهرس 
Significance of the studyOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Toxoplasmosis is considered one of the neglected parasitic
infections. It is a zoonotic disease caused by the protozoal parasite
Toxoplasma gondii. The only known definitive hosts for T.gondii are
felids such as domestic cats. The prevalence of infection clearly
depends on the quality of water resources and hygiene. Humans can
become infected by any of several routes: eating undercooked meat of
animals harboring tissue cysts, consuming food or water contaminated
with cat feces or by contaminated environmental samples (such as
contaminated soil or changing the litter box), blood transfusion or
organ transplantation and transplacental from the mother to the fetus.
Perinatal health professionals play a major role in the
prevention of prenatal infections including Toxoplasma. Correct
diagnosis by nurses and other health care workers allows the provision
of early and appropriate treatment. The health care provider provides
the client with education that helps in preventing and controlling the
parasite infection.
The present study aimed to assess the maternity nurses’
knowledge regarding toxoplasmosis. Descriptive cross-sectional
research design was used to carry out this study and research
questions were formulated. This study was conducted in four districts
out of nine at Menoufia governorate. They were selected using
simple random sampling technique. These were (Shebin El-Kom,
Menoufe, Tala and El-shohadaa). Using multi- stage random sampling
technique, eight villages were chosen.
This study was conducted in maternal and child health care
centers and health care units that are affiliated to the ministry ofHealth and Population. The participants included 88 maternity nurses.
The nurses were recruited according to the following criteria:
1. Working in maternal and child health care centers and health care
units.
2. Willingness to fill in the questionnaire.
Throughout the course of the study, data were collected using
an instrument (with two parts) which were developed by the
researcher and validated by a jury of qualified experts. Then the
reliability was calculated.
Throughout the course of the present study, data were collected
using the following instrument which is revised by qualified experts,
then tested for validity and reliability.
Instrument I: A structured interviewing questionnaire
(Appendix I)
A specialized designed structured interviewing questionnaire
was used to collect the necessary data about the study nurses. This
instrument included the following parts:-
Part I: The Socio-demographic characteristics of the nursing staff.
It includes: name, age, level of education, sex and work
experience.
Part II: The assessment of the nurses’ level of knowledge related to
toxoplasmosis. The nurses’ level of knowledge was evaluated
through different questions about the aspects of causes,
diagnosis, clinical manifestations, the mode of transmission,
treatment, complications and the prevention of toxoplasmosis in
the pregnant women.The participants gave an oral consent prior to enrolment.
Anonymity and confidentiality were assured and the participants were
told that they could withdraw from the study at any time wherever
they wanted to do so. The study limitation is related to the nurses were
selected from only one specialty (maternity nurses) which may limit
the generalizability of the study findings.
The main study findings are as follows:
The nurses’ ages ranged between 22-59 years with a mean of 39
years age.
Regarding the nurses’ level of education, the highest percentage of
them (63.6%) a secondary nursing school. Concerning the nurses’
years of experience, less than half (40.9%) of them are more than
21 years of experience.
Regarding the knowledge of the meaning of toxoplasmosis, 86.3%
of the study nurses knew the meaning of toxoplasmosis.
The total nurses ’knowledge of toxoplasmosis revealed that less
than half of the sample (40.90%) had poor knowledge of
toxoplasmosis and less than half of the nurses (48.90%) had fair
knowledge, whereas less than one fourth of the nurses (10.20%)
had good knowledge of toxoplasmosis .
Concerning the relationship between the nurses’ knowledge and
their socio demographic characteristics, it was found that there
was no statistically significant difference between the nurses’ age
and level of knowledge. Also there was no statistically significant
difference between the educational level and the level of
knowledge. Regarding the nurses’ years of experience, there was a
statistically significant difference between the nurses’ knowledgeand their years of experience with the majority of them (66.7%)
having > 21 years of experience.
Regarding the relationship between the level of education, years of
experience and the nurses’ knowledge of the meaning of
toxoplasmosis, it has been found that there was a highly
statistically significant difference (p <0.001).
Relationship between the years of experience and the nurses’
knowledge of the prevention of toxoplasmosis, there was a
statistically significant difference (p<0.05) between the level of
education and the level of knowledge. There was also a highly
statistically significant difference between the years of experience
and the level of knowledge (p<0.001).
Regarding the correlation between the level of education, the years
of experience and the nurses’ knowledge of toxoplasmosis, there
was a positive significant correlation between the years of
experience and the nurses’ knowledge of toxoplasmosis.
According to the findings of the present study that assessed the
maternity nurses’ knowledge regarding toxoplasmosis, it could be
concluded that:
Maternity nurses’ knowledge about toxoplasmosis revealed
that where less than one fourth of the study participants had
good knowledge about toxoplasmosis whereas less than half of
the nurses had poor knowledge and less than half of the study
participants had fair knowledge about toxoplasmosis. This
answered the first research question stating ”what is the
maternity nurses’ knowledge regarding toxoplasmosis?”Also, the current study showed that there was no statistically
significant difference between the nurses’ age, educational level
and the level of knowledge. Regarding the nurses’ years of
experience, there was a statistically significant difference between
the nurses’ knowledge about toxoplasmosis and their years of
experience. This answered the second research question stating ”is
there a relationship between the level of knowledge and the socio-
demographic characteristics of the maternity nurses about
toxoplasmosis?”
According to the findings of the current study, the following
recommendations are proposed:
5. Reinforcing the role of maternity nurses in providing counseling
health education regarding the prevention of toxoplasmosis
during pregnancy.
6. A training program about toxoplasmosis for maternity nurses
who work in the prenatal care units to increase their awareness of
the early detection and prevention of toxoplasmosis during
pregnancy is recommended.
7. A poster to be prepared about modes of transmission, symptoms
of the toxoplasmosis and ways of prevention and posted in the
antenatal clinics.
8. Dissemination of information about toxoplasmosis through
seminars in health units and lectures in schools and colleges.
Suggestions for future studies:
Replication of this study to further settings using a larger sample can
be conducted.