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Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research / Data Driven Disease Surveillance · Journal article
International Journal of Scientific Research Studies · August 31, 2026
Early or partial results. Treat as a signal, not a conclusion.
This descriptive survey of 103 health information management professionals in Bayelsa State, Nigeria reveals moderate self-perceived operational knowledge and surveillance practice, with identified gaps in timeliness, completeness, verification and documentation. No statistically significant associations were found between operational knowledge and practice or between gender and practice, suggesting that knowledge transfer alone may not improve surveillance outcomes.
Descriptive cross-sectional quantitative survey. Health Information Management professionals in public health institutions in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. 115 questionnaires distributed; 103 completed and analyzed (response rate 89.6%).. n = 103. Bayelsa State, Nigeria.
Perceived operational knowledge subscales ranged from mean 2.46–2.54 for timeliness (2.47), completeness (2.46), data quality/accuracy (2.49), and surveillance capacity/experience (2.54) Self-reported surveillance practice scores were moderate: timeliness 2.43, data quality/accuracy 2.42, completeness 2.48 No statistically significant association between operational knowledge and surveillance practice (β = 0.072, p = 0.468)
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These findings suggest that surveillance system improvement efforts directed at HIM professionals should move beyond knowledge transfer to focus on supportive supervision, feedback mechanisms, reporting tools, and resources. The lack of association between knowledge and practice may reflect systemic or institutional barriers that require organizational rather than educational interventions.
A descriptive cross-sectional survey of 103 health information professionals identifying knowledge and practice gaps in disease surveillance, with moderate perceived knowledge and self-reported practice but no statistically significant associations between variables.
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Quoted from the source exactly as published.
These findings suggest that surveillance system improvement efforts directed at HIM professionals should move beyond knowledge transfer to focus on supportive supervision, feedback mechanisms, reporting tools, and resources. The lack of association between knowledge and practice may reflect systemic or institutional barriers that require organizational rather than educational interventions.
Graded across the dimensions that decide whether you should act, each from what the source actually supports. There is no single score, and where a dimension was not assessed it says so.
Background: Disease surveillance is critical to the timely recognition, notification, and response to priority diseases and public health events. Health Information Management (HIM) staff plays a role in producing, processing and disseminating health data for surveillance activities; however their knowledge and practice of routine surveillance practices has received comparatively little attention. This study identified knowledge and practice gaps of IDSR among HIM professionals working in public health facilities in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Method: Descriptive, cross-sectional and quantitative. Study population: 115 questionnaires were distributed to the population of HIM practitioners in public health institutions in Bayelsa State, Nigeria, of which 103 completed questionnaires were returned and analyzed (response rate: 89.6%). The tool: A structured, pre-tested questionnaire collecting: socio-demographic data, perceived operator-specific knowledge, self-reported behavior in surveillance practice and professional/institutional variables. The reliability and validity of the tool: The questionnaire tool was validated by 2 experts in epidemiology and health information management and its internal consistency was obtained with a Cronbach‘s a co-efficient of ≥0.70, which was judged to be acceptable. The data analysis: SPSS version 26. Frequencies, percentages and the mean scores were determined and simple linear regression was performed at 0.05 level of significance. Results: subscales of perceived operational knowledge were rated moderate with a mean of 2.47, 2.46, 2.49 and 2.54 for timeliness, completeness, data quality and accuracy and surveillance capacity and experience, respectively. Similarly, self-reported surveillance practice was moderate for timeliness, 2.43, data quality and accuracy, 2.42 and completeness, 2.48. The highest professional/institutional factor score was supervision and feedback, 2.62, followed by resources and infrastructure (2.56), with self-assessed operational competence being lowest (2.33). There was no statistically significant association between operational knowledge and surveillance practice (β = 0.072, R 2 = 0.005 and p = 0.468) or gender and surveillance practice (β= 0.036, R 2 =0.001 and p= 0.716) (data not shown). The two selected-factor models were also not statistically significant for operational knowledge (R = 0.045, R 2 =0.002, F =0.201 and p= 0.655) or for surveillance practice (R = 0.009, R 2 =0.000 and F =0.008 and p= 0.929). Conclusion: HIM professionals showed basic awareness, moderate perceived operational knowledge and self-reported surveillance practice, and reached uniformity expected in the experiential learning; but with gaps in reporting timeliness, data completeness, verification and documentation. The results imply that surveillance enhancement efforts should not be simply based on knowledge transfer; but also on enhancement of supportive supervision, feedback, reporting tools/resources, information channels, reporting burden and lifespan learning of the workforce
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