From Knowledge to Prevention: Intestinal Parasitic Infection Awareness and Preventive Practices among Future Teachers at the University of Benghazi, Libya

Abstract

Background: Intestinal parasitic infections remain preventable yet persistent public-health problems shaped by water safety, sanitation, food handling, environmental exposure and health literacy. Students in faculties of education are a strategically important group because their future professional role can extend health knowledge from universities to schools, families and communities. This study assessed intestinal-parasite knowledge, disease awareness and preventive practices among female students at the Faculty of Education, University of Benghazi, and interpreted the findings through One Health and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) frameworks.

Methods: A cross-sectional paper-based questionnaire survey was conducted among 300 female students at the Faculty of Education, University of Benghazi, between October 2024 and January 2025. Participation was voluntary, and questionnaires were distributed manually. Seven knowledge items and five awareness items were coded on five-point scales, and eight preventive-practice items on three-point scales. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 28.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. Descriptive statistics, Spearman’s rank correlations and Kruskal–Wallis tests with epsilon-squared effect sizes were used; false-discovery-rate correction was applied to multiple subgroup comparisons. The analytical dataset contained no participant names or direct personal identifiers.

Results: Internal consistency was high for knowledge (α=0.916) and preventive practices (α=0.847) and acceptable-to-good for awareness (α=0.804). Mean knowledge was 3.45/5 (SD 1.06; 95% CI 3.33–3.57), awareness 3.20/5 (SD 1.00; 95% CI 3.08–3.31), and preventive practice 2.46/3 (SD 0.54; 95% CI 2.40–2.52). Knowledge correlated strongly with awareness (Spearman’s ρ=0.791, p<0.001) and moderately-to-strongly with practice (ρ=0.623, p<0.001); awareness also correlated with practice (ρ=0.615, p<0.001). Knowledge was strongest for clean water, utensil hygiene and handwashing, whereas recognition of intestinal protozoa was weakest. Preventive behaviour was strongest for washing produce and hand hygiene but weaker for separation of utensils and safe storage of cooked food. Age and academic year showed the largest subgroup effects across all three domains. Conclusion: Future teachers demonstrated useful preventive habits but only moderate disease awareness and uneven parasite-specific knowledge. Teacher-training curricula provide a practical platform for strengthening applied parasitology, food safety and WASH literacy. Integrating these themes through a One Health approach can support SDGs 3, 4 and 6 while positioning future teachers as health-literacy multipliers.