| dc.description.abstract | Poor helmet use has led to great head injury burden especially trauma and death after accidents. It is estimated that over one million people worldwide are injured or disabled due to poor helmet use (Chisholm et al, 2012). In Kabalagala Parish, many boda Boda cyclists either don‟t have helmets or poor use them which had resulted in injuries in case of accidents. Specific objectives of the study were; assessing the level of knowledge, attitude and practices of motorcyclist in Kabalagala Town towards helmet use in prevention of head injuries between 2010 and 2016. The adapted a cross-sectional research design where a sample size of 92 respondents who were boda boda cyclists selected by stratified and simple random sampling.
Study findings showed that, out of the 92 respondents used in this study, majority had fairly good knowledge about helmet use where 66(72%) did not receive routine education about helmet use (0.0000), 64(70%) knew their uses, 53(58%) knew that a good helmet should have a string that is fastened at the chin, covers the whole head, hard enough and well ventilated (0.0000), 69(75%) thought that a helmet should only be cleaned when it gets dirty (P=0.0036). It was however found out that most 51(55%) of them never knew the life span of a helmet (P=0.0005) and 53(58%) did not know that the best sources of helmets (P=0.0001). Findings showed that, respondents had negative attitude because; 46(68%) carried diseases (P=0.0001), 54(59%) thought the helmets should be worn on ones wish or fashion (P=0.0000), helmets should be worn depending on weather conditions and hours of the day 64(70%) and riders do not appreciate that helmet is their own protection but not serving the law 75(82%) (P=0.0292). Respondents had poor practices where; only 52(56.5%) had helmets at the time of study, 57(62%) never regularly wore helmets, 75 (81%) never provided helmets to their passengers and 43 (46.7%) fastened their helmets before riding.
In conclusion, respondents had good knowledge towards helmet use because they knew their uses and could define the characteristics of a good helmet. However they had poor attitude because they believed that they carried diseases, be worn on ones, wish or fashion and not for their own benefit but to serve the law. This could have led to poor practice since few had helmets and never regularly used them sometimes despite having them. The researcher suggests that, more education and sensitization be given to boda boda cyclists about helmet use and force them to observe the law through penalties. | en_US |
