Measurement of variables

A total of 25 items were used to measure the level of knowledge. The items had two responses “Yes/No” and each response was scored 1 point. In order to check for internal consistency of validity of the tool, we performed factor analysis statistic so as to reduce the weak items. The Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy was 0.878, Bartlet’s test of sphericity was 3679.530, and p-value <0.001. The total variance explained (initial Eigenvalues) had seven components with cumulative percentage of 68.277. Knowledge scores were approximately normally distributed with Shapiro-Wilk test value of statistic of 0.503 and p-value <0.001. The mean score was considered to be the cut-off point for those with adequate and inadequate knowledge. The mean score was 10.35 ± 2.14 (range: 0–25), therefore, participants with less than mean score were considered to have inadequate knowledge and vice versa.

Attitude was assessed using 9 items which were measured on five points Likert scale. 1-strongly agree, 2-agree, 3-neither agree nor disagree, 4-disagree, and 5-strongly disagree. Points 1 and 2 implied positive attitude whereas points 3 through 5 implied negative attitude. In checking for internal consistency of validity of the tool, factor analysis statistic was performed so as to reduce the weak items. The Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy was 0.506, Bartlet’s test of sphericity was 2003.303, and p-value <0.001. The total variance explained (initial Eigenvalues) had nine components with cumulative percentage of 71.040. Attitude scores were approximately normally distributed with Shapiro-Wilk test value of statistic of 0.958 and p-value <0.001. The cut-off point for positive and negative attitude was a mean score which was 5.497 ± 1.986. All participants with points equal or greater than the mean score were considered to have positive attitude and vice versa.

Practice was assesses using 10 items with responses “Yes/No” and each response was given 1 point. Determination of internal consistency of validity of the tool was performed after running factor analysis statistics to reduce all weak items. KMO measure of sampling adequacy was 0.500, Bartlet’s test of sphericity was 1056.463, and p-value <0.001. The total variance explained (initial Eigenvalues) had nine components with cumulative percentage of 79.135. Practice scores were approximately normally distributed with Shapiro-Wilk test value of statistic of 0.951 and p-value <0.001. The cut-off point for considering appropriate and inappropriate practice in this study was the mean score (4.72 ± 1.418) with range of 0–10 points. Participants with less than the mean score points were termed to have inappropriate practice and vice versa.