In addition to differences among communities, mosquito abundance and MBD risk varies geographically ( 2, 3), further highlighting the fact that knowledge, attitudes, and practices concerning MBDs are not the same in every community. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) surveys are a standard tool in helping to gather information about communities to help tailor that messaging ( 1). Public health messaging should be tailored to individual communities in order to maximize compliance with health protective behaviors and thereby increase the success of initiatives aimed at preventing the spread of mosquito-borne diseases (MBDs). Perceptions toward the city's role in mosquito control and education was an important factor in predicting PPMs, suggesting that city culture (attitudes common throughout the city as opposed to attitudes differing by ethnicity and neighborhood) may be most salient in developing public health messaging in San Antonio. We found that openness, agreeableness, and extraversion predicted certain attitudes and PPMs, and that KAP and personality measures did not differ along ethnic or neighborhood lines. The KAP survey was administered in three neighborhoods in San Antonio, a large, Hispanic-majority, urban city that is segregated economically and ecologically. Ours is only the second KAP study to take place in Texas despite known local transmission and established mosquito populations capable of transmitting dengue, zika, chikungunya, and West Nile viruses. KAP studies in Gulf-coast and Mexican border-states in the U.S. This is the first mosquito-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) study to incorporate a measure of personality using the Big Five: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the role personality might play in implementing personal protective measures (PPMs) that can prevent mosquito-borne diseases. Personality is known to affect compliance with health-protective behaviors and it has been shown that effective public health messaging can be informed by an understanding of that relationship. Department of Life Sciences, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, One University Way, San Antonio, TX, United States. Bohmann ‡ Lisset Martinez-Berman † Amy R.
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