Primary school teachers knowledge attitudes and teaching challenges regarding hearing loss among pupils in central Tanzania

Abstract

Primary school teachers serve as frontline educators and are often the first to interact with pupils with disabilities compared to educators at higher levels. However, the teacher training curriculum in Tanzania lacks capacity-building components on the early identification of sensory impairments among schoolchildren. Undiagnosed hearing loss may result in cognitive impairment and poor academic performance. This study aimed to address this gap in Tanzania. A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted involving 405 primary school teachers from Manyoni District, recruited through a multistage cluster sampling technique. Data were collected using Swahili-translated semi-structured questionnaires and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. A p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Overall, 70.9% of primary school teachers demonstrated poor knowledge regarding hearing loss among pupils. A significant association was observed between teachers’ age and their overall level of knowledge (p < 0.001). Regarding attitudes toward pupils with hearing loss, 48.4% of teachers had a negative attitude, 48.1% demonstrated an intermediate attitude, and only 3.5% had a positive attitude. No statistically significant associations were found between socio-demographic characteristics (sex, p value = 0.377; age, p value = 0.489; marital status, p value = 0.745; educational level, p value = 0.743) or professional characteristics (teaching experience, p value = 0.731; teaching specialization, p value = 0.492) and teachers’ overall attitudes toward pupils with hearing loss. Primary school teachers’ knowledge and attitudes towards hearing loss were found to be mostly poor to intermediate. Most teachers had limited knowledge of hearing loss, especially on the causes, risk factors and symptoms of hearing loss. This study may inform the need to include capacity training on how to detect sensory impairment amongst school children in teachers’ training curriculum. Improving the teachers’ knowledge on hearing loss aids in early detection and referral.