Uptake of Post-Exposure Prophylaxis among Nurses in the Kassena/Nankana Municipality of Northern Ghana. “A Health Belief Theory guided cross-sectional study”

Uptake of Post-Exposure Prophylaxis among Nurses in the Kassena/Nankana Municipality of Northern Ghana. “A Health Belief Theory guided cross-sectional study” | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Uptake of Post-Exposure Prophylaxis among Nurses in the Kassena/Nankana Municipality of Northern Ghana. “A Health Belief Theory guided cross-sectional study” Logonia Kingsley, Abdul-Razak Doat, John N. Alem, Ruth A. Nti This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6895146/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 7 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Objective: To explore the uptake of post-exposure prophylaxis among nurses in the Kassena Nankana Municipality of Northern Ghana. Methods: A cross-sectional research design utilizing descriptive studies was employed to gather data on the uptake of post-exposure prophylaxis among nurses. Registered nurses and nurse assistants capable of independently consenting participated in this study. Data were collected using structured questionnaires. The questionnaire contained information on participants' socio-demographic characteristics, the health belief theory framework, and uptake of post-exposure prophylaxis. Results: Among the study participants who returned their questionnaires (n=185), 130 (70.2%) were exposed to infectious diseases, out of which only 66 (50.8%) initiated post-exposure prophylaxis. Study participants generally had a heightened perception level for the foundational constructs of the health belief model, namely, perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, perceived barriers, and perceived benefits. Spearman rho correlation univariate analysis revealed a positive but insignificant correlation between perceived barriers (p<0.273), perceived benefits (p<0.385), and uptake of post-exposure prophylaxis. At the same time, there was an equally negative but insignificant correlation between perceived severity (p<0.078), perceived susceptibility (p<0.054), and uptake of post-exposure prophylaxis. Conclusion: While there was a general acknowledgement and heightening of nurses' perceptions on infectious diseases, the corresponding insignificant correlation between the constructs and uptake of post-exposure prophylaxis impulsively calls for stakeholder engagement and systems re-engineering within the health service value chain to enhance uptake of post-exposure prophylaxis among nurses. Post-exposure prophylaxis Public Health Nursing Perception Health Belief Theory Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files QUESTIONAIREFORBMCPH..docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviews received at journal 18 Oct, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 16 Sep, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 11 Sep, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 09 Sep, 2025 Editor invited by journal 20 Aug, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 19 Aug, 2025 First submitted to journal 19 Aug, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6895146","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":515972067,"identity":"c095fe26-347f-4a0e-87c1-65744eb07c18","order_by":0,"name":"Logonia Kingsley","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABHElEQVRIie3RMUvDQBTA8QcHzfLsnBJMPoHwwkEWJeKXcE4IJEsKAZdCBwNCMroKGfwKFsE5ENClIM4uKZ3c4pZB0LugQ6E5V8H7DxcevB/HEQCd7g9mMnlmANNhJLDlp25/JQQw+SZ8IIGKwA4BCHN5qsisPGjeejoJC6N82WaZn9yeNxtxi28f5fuJxabxMVIcFri+4DcUzVevMQkSca/eT2yGHgdqwsJMYwuJzVdVIEkdPiiI29PnD7lM3CrplMRiyFukWpDkUZAmcKxUfcvsCj2GFHHxFsaRntw7K83qgMbfYj6v+Xu/8A+vjXKzxY+l41TJfdctfHuMiCby35zlgDSMNGzS6LqMdeI4BTDaYXRy5bZOp9P9w74A3uNZqfBujm0AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"CKT University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Upper East Region","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Logonia","middleName":"","lastName":"Kingsley","suffix":""},{"id":515972068,"identity":"d71ff6d9-d6af-4fa6-bcdb-65d16cfe33aa","order_by":1,"name":"Abdul-Razak Doat","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"CKT University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Upper East Region","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Abdul-Razak","middleName":"","lastName":"Doat","suffix":""},{"id":515972069,"identity":"10d930c8-bbab-4a00-a47a-8c4e04dad0eb","order_by":2,"name":"John N. 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Registered nurses and nurse assistants capable of independently consenting participated in this study. Data were collected using structured questionnaires. The questionnaire contained information on participants' socio-demographic characteristics, the health belief theory framework, and uptake of post-exposure prophylaxis.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eResults: Among the study participants who returned their questionnaires (n=185), 130 (70.2%) were exposed to infectious diseases, out of which only 66 (50.8%) initiated post-exposure prophylaxis. Study participants generally had a heightened perception level for the foundational constructs of the health belief model, namely, perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, perceived barriers, and perceived benefits. 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