JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Leptospirosis is becoming a significant public health issue, particularly in tropical developing nations. The disease is endemic in Southeast and South Asian nations. In Malaysia, the Communicable Diseases Control Information System (CDCIS e-Notification system) recorded 5,217 leptospirosis cases in 2019, with 32 fatalities (case fatality rate: 0.6%). While information and perception are crucial in influencing positive behavior, information on urban and rural dwellers’ knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding leptospirosis incidence is limited.

Objective:

This study aimed to develop a mobile application (app) containing information on leptospirosis and measure its effectiveness in improving knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding leptospirosis among wet market workers in Selangor, Malaysia.

Methods:

A three-phase study will be conducted and include the development of the mobile app, analysis of its acceptability, and application of the intervention. The mobile app development will begin with an idea description, storyboard creation, and content approval through the nominal group technique. The mobile app content will be constructed using the health belief model theory. The usability of the mobile app prototype will be evaluated using the validated Malay-version System Usability Scale Questionnaire for the Evaluation of Mobile Applications. The respondents will be recruited using purposive sampling from four Selangor wet markets. The respondents will all be wet market workers aged ≥18 years old. The study protocol entails a 12-week intervention stage, where the baseline and follow-up assessment will be considered a pre-test and post-test, respectively. This study will incorporate a validated questionnaire set created by leptospirosis experts. The questionnaire will comprise nine sections with open-ended questions on sociodemographic data, knowledge, attitude, practice, and mobile app requirements.

Results:

The main results will be the differences in the respondents’ knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding leptospirosis between the baseline and immediate follow-up assessment after the 12-week intervention.

Conclusions:

This intervention study will be conducted in Hulu Langat district, Selangor, as the number of reported leptospirosis cases there is high. The results may contribute to improving wet market workers’ knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding leptospirosis. Clinical Trial: This study will use a quasi-experimental design without random allocation or a control group. Although it will involve a digital health intervention and outcome evaluation, it does not fulfill the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors definition of a clinical trial. Accordingly, this study was not registered with a clinical trials registry. However, ethical approval and methodological transparency will be ensured throughout the process.