Development of “Deskab” as an instrument to detect scabies for non-medical personnel in Indonesia

Abstract

Scabies is one of the most prevalent infectious skin diseases in Indonesia, especially in boarding schools. Diagnosis of scabies can be made using the four cardinal signs through anamnesis and simple physical examination. The high incidence of scabies requires collaboration between various parties to diagnose and treat scabies. “DeSkab” (scabies detection form) is a form containing questions for non-medical personnel to detect scabies before being confirmed by trained medical personnel. Face and content validity of “DeSkab” is first established by boarding school’s supervisors, experts in community medicine, and dermatovenereologists. To establish reliability, study is conducted in Al-Hidayah Islamic Boarding School, Indonesia. Six non-medical personnel were chosen to examine 81 students of the boarding school using “DeSkab”. Each student is examined by three non-medical personnel, then confirmed through an examination by dermatovenereologists. Result of McNemar test shows that scabies detection by five nonmedical personnel have no statistically significant difference compared to the dermatovenereologist (McNemar test value of P>0.05). Based on this result, “DeSkab” proves to be an option for non-medical personnel to use as an instrument for detecting scabies in Indonesia.

Keywords

• scabies
• non-medical personnel
• boarding school
• detection form