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      Public Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice towards COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia: A Web-Based Cross-Sectional Survey

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          Abstract

          (1) Background: COVID-19 has become a worldwide public health problem. No previous study has investigated factors associated with COVID-19 knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) after completely lifting the curfew in all Saudi Arabia regions and cities. Therefore, adequate knowledge, a positive attitude, and correct control of COVID-19 are essential to eradicate the disease. Hence, this study aims to assess factors associated with KAP of COVID-19; (2) Methods: This cross-sectional web-based survey was performed with the participation of 4305 individuals aged over 15 years living in Saudi Arabia from 11 to 19 August 2020. They were included using the snowball sampling method; (3) Results: Of the 4305 participants, 94.9% were Saudis, 60% females, and 45.4% were in the age group of 20–34 years, 61.7% married, and 49.3% from the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Most of the participants demonstrated good KAP levels (89.6%, 87.2%, and 87.2%) towards the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. In addition, most of the participants (85.8%) used the internet and social media as a source for COVID-19 information (4) Conclusions: The finding showed that most of the participants demonstrated good knowledge of COVID-19, positive attitudes, and demonstrated good practices for preventing the spread of disease infection.

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          Knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards COVID-19 among Chinese residents during the rapid rise period of the COVID-19 outbreak: a quick online cross-sectional survey

          Unprecedented measures have been adopted to control the rapid spread of the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic in China. People's adherence to control measures is affected by their knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards COVID-19. In this study, we investigated Chinese residents' KAP towards COVID-19 during the rapid rise period of the outbreak. An online sample of Chinese residents was successfully recruited via the authors' networks with residents and popular media in Hubei, China. A self-developed online KAP questionnaire was completed by the participants. The knowledge questionnaire consisted of 12 questions regarding the clinical characteristics and prevention of COVID-19. Assessments on residents' attitudes and practices towards COVID-19 included questions on confidence in winning the battle against COVID-19 and wearing masks when going out in recent days. Among the survey completers (n=6910), 65.7% were women, 63.5% held a bachelor degree or above, and 56.2% engaged in mental labor. The overall correct rate of the knowledge questionnaire was 90%. The majority of the respondents (97.1%) had confidence that China can win the battle against COVID-19. Nearly all of the participants (98.0%) wore masks when going out in recent days. In multiple logistic regression analyses, the COVID-19 knowledge score (OR: 0.75-0.90, P<0.001) was significantly associated with a lower likelihood of negative attitudes and preventive practices towards COVID-2019. Most Chinese residents of a relatively high socioeconomic status, in particular women, are knowledgeable about COVID-19, hold optimistic attitudes, and have appropriate practices towards COVID-19. Health education programs aimed at improving COVID-19 knowledge are helpful for Chinese residents to hold optimistic attitudes and maintain appropriate practices. Due to the limited sample representativeness, we must be cautious when generalizing these findings to populations of a low socioeconomic status.
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            Public knowledge, attitudes and practices towards COVID-19: A cross-sectional study in Malaysia

            In an effort to mitigate the outbreak of COVID-19, many countries have imposed drastic lockdown, movement control or shelter in place orders on their residents. The effectiveness of these mitigation measures is highly dependent on cooperation and compliance of all members of society. The knowledge, attitudes and practices people hold toward the disease play an integral role in determining a society’s readiness to accept behavioural change measures from health authorities. The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge levels, attitudes and practices toward COVID-19 among the Malaysian public. A cross-sectional online survey of 4,850 Malaysian residents was conducted between 27th March and 3rd April 2020. The survey instrument consisted of demographic characteristics, 13 items on knowledge, 3 items on attitudes and 3 items on practices, modified from a previously published questionnaire on COVID-19. Descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, t-tests and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted. The overall correct rate of the knowledge questionnaire was 80.5%. Most participants held positive attitudes toward the successful control of COVID-19 (83.1%), the ability of Malaysia to conquer the disease (95.9%) and the way the Malaysian government was handling the crisis (89.9%). Most participants were also taking precautions such as avoiding crowds (83.4%) and practising proper hand hygiene (87.8%) in the week before the movement control order started. However, the wearing of face masks was less common (51.2%). This survey is among the first to assess knowledge, attitudes and practice in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. The results highlight the importance of consistent messaging from health authorities and the government as well as the need for tailored health education programs to improve levels of knowledge, attitudes and practices.
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              Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Toward COVID-19 Among the Public in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

              Background: Saudi Arabia has taken unprecedented and stringent preventive and precautionary measures against COVID-19 to control its spread, safeguard citizens and ensure their well-being. Public adherence to preventive measures is influenced by their knowledge and attitude toward COVID-19. This study investigated the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the Saudi public, toward COVID-19, during the pandemic. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, using data collected via an online self-reported questionnaire, from 3,388 participants. To assess the differences in mean scores, and identify factors associated with knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward COVID-19, the data were run through univariate and multivariable regression analyses, respectively. Results: The majority of the study participants were knowledgeable about COVID-19. The mean COVID-19 knowledge score was 17.96 (SD = 2.24, range: 3–22), indicating a high level of knowledge. The mean score for attitude was 28.23 (SD = 2.76, range: 6–30), indicating optimistic attitudes. The mean score for practices was 4.34 (SD = 0.87, range: 0–5), indicating good practices. However, the results showed that men have less knowledge, less optimistic attitudes, and less good practice toward COVID-19, than women. We also found that older adults are likely to have better knowledge and practices, than younger people. Conclusions: Our finding suggests that targeted health education interventions should be directed to this particular vulnerable population, who may be at increased risk of contracting COVID-19. For example, COVID-19 knowledge may increase significantly if health education programs are specifically targeted at men.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Role: Academic Editor
                Journal
                Med Sci (Basel)
                Med Sci (Basel)
                medsci
                Medical Sciences
                MDPI
                2076-3271
                16 February 2021
                March 2021
                : 9
                : 1
                : 11
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Department of Laboratory, Dhahran Eye Specialist Hospital, Ministry of Health, Dhahran 31942, Saudi Arabia
                [2 ]Infectious Disease Unit, Specialty Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dhahran 31311, Saudi Arabia; jaltawfi@ 123456yahoo.com
                [3 ]Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA
                [4 ]Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA
                [5 ]College of Public Health, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia; moudshk@ 123456gmail.com
                [6 ]Technical and Vocational Training Corporation, Riyadh 11472, Saudi Arabia
                [7 ]College of Dentistry, Taibah University, Madinah 42313, Saudi Arabia; rabeafs20@ 123456gmail.com
                [8 ]King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre (Gen. Org.), Riyadh 11211, Saudi Arabia; khawlah.almuqati@ 123456gmail.com
                [9 ]First Health Cluster in Eastern Province, Dammam 31444, Saudi Arabia; bashayer.sulaiman@ 123456hotmail.com
                [10 ]College of Applied Medical Science, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah 21955, Saudi Arabia; khuludk.alharbi@ 123456gmail.com
                [11 ]The Panuska College of Professional Studies, The University of Scranton, Scranton, PA 18510, USA
                [12 ]Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Dammam Medical Complex, Dammam 31463, Saudi Arabia; alabbad82@ 123456yahoo.com
                [13 ]Department of Pediatrics, Anak General Hospital, Qatif 31911, Saudi Arabia; alabbadjamelah@ 123456gmail.com
                [14 ]College of Medicine, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al‐Kharj 11942, Saudi Arabia; 448.ibrahem@ 123456gmail.com
                [15 ]College of Clinical Pharmacy, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia; ikiaim@ 123456hotmail.com
                Author notes
                [* ]Correspondence: alialnassser@ 123456gmail.com
                [†]

                These authors contributed equally to this work.

                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0081-1917
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5752-2235
                https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4621-1279
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1373-1879
                https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9837-6636
                https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6245-7880
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4424-7991
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0219-3980
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3882-4692
                Article
                medsci-09-00011
                10.3390/medsci9010011
                7931095
                33669208
                c046be78-4681-4cc7-b434-773f2e8b7ed3
                © 2021 by the authors.

                Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

                History
                : 11 December 2020
                : 09 February 2021
                Categories
                Article

                the coronavirus disease 2019,sars-cov-2,2019-ncov,awareness,public awareness,public practice,social distancing,preventive measures,perception,covid-19,social media,kap

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