Health Care Providers Knowledge as Correlates of their Attitudes Towards Leprosy Sufferers in Nigeria

This study was conceived against the hunches of seemingly inadequate knowledge and blatant stigmatization of leprosy sufferers amongst health practitioners in Nigeria. It aimed at relating health workers knowledge and consequent attitude towards leprosy patients. Five hundred and eighty seven health workers comprising males and females drawn from government and private owned health care infrastructures participated in this study. A knowledge-Attitude structured questionnaire was used to measure the relationship between the respondent’s knowledge and attitude variables towards leprosy patients. Results using simple percentages and the Statistical package for Social Science (SPSS) version 9, specifically the Pearson product moment correlation confirmed that health workers’ above average knowledge of leprosy relates positively with attitudes towards leprosy patients(r = 0.62, d.f = 585;<.05, two-tailed test). The Researcher suggested that knowledge be further improved in order to sustain positive attitudes of health workers towards sufferers of leprosy.