Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice among Hospital Visitors towards COVID-19
Creators: name: Shargunan Selvanthan
name: Gobi Hariyanayagam
name: Halim, Fouzia Hanim Abdul
name: Foo Yen Li
name: Yusoff, Aida Farhana
name: Sabri, Wan Mohd Akmal Wan
name: Sera Selvanthansundram Gunasekaran
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Knowledge
Attitude
Practice
Hospital
Visitors
COVID-19

description: <strong>Introduction </strong>The knowledge , Attitudes and Practices (KAP) of individuals towards COVID-19 disease is of paramount importance to ensure public adherence towards pandemic control measures as recommend by Malaysian health authorities. <strong>Research Statement </strong>The knowledge , Attitudes and Practices (KAP) of individuals towards COVID-19 disease is of paramount importance to ensure public adherence towards pandemic control measures as recommend by Malaysian health authorities. <strong>Objective </strong>To evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) among Hospital visitors toward covid-19 pandemic. To assess differences of KAP score between subgroups of demographics and other selected characteristics. <strong>Method: Study Design </strong>In Hospital Seri Manjung, Perak between May – August 2020. Cross sectional , Self-Administrated questionnaire based study. Modified from previously published Questionnaire on COVID-19. 10 item on knowledge, 3 item on attitudes • 3 item on practice <strong>Variables </strong><em>Demographic variables </em>Gender ,Ethnic , Age, Marriage status . Education level , Occupation <em>Facemask use</em> Face mask grade ( Medical or Non-Medical grade ) • Source of face mask (self-sourced or non self-sourced) <strong>Statistical Analysis </strong>All demographic and categorical variables were presented percentage (%) and Knowledge score presented mean ± standard deviation. Binary logistic regression to determine the association of demographic variables with practice. <strong>Results </strong> <em>Demographic</em><strong><em> </em></strong>Among sample of 206 participants : Overall knowledge score 86% 61.7% female 82.0% Malay Ethnic 50% 31-50 years age group Overall knowledge score : 8.6 ±1.3 Min : 3 - Max : 10 <em>Knowledge Score </em>Top 3 highest score Education level : Degree : 9.4±1.0 Occupation: Public sector : 9.1±1.2 Age group: 31-50 years old : 8.8 ±1.1 Lowest score : Have no facemask : 8.0±1.0 Ethnic Non-Malay : 8.1±1.4 Non-medical grade facemask :8.1±1.4 Received facemask from others :8.1±1.4 <em>Important Finding </em>99.8% know there is no effective cure for COVID-2019, but early treatment can help most subjects recover from the infection. 47.6% doesn’t know persons with COVID-2019 can infect the virus to others even when a fever is not present. 98.5% of the respondents agree that its important to use facemask in public place. 99.0% of the respondents have confidence that Malaysia will overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic successfully. 88.3% of the respondent have positive attitudes that COVID-19 could be successfully controlled.Adjusted for all other variables , respondents with : Age &gt; 50 years old (AOR=3.5, 95% CI 1.1-11.1; p=.003) Married (AOR=5.9, 95% CI 1.9-18.0; p=.002) Medical grade facemask (AOR 9.2, 95% CI 3.5-24.5; p&lt;.001) Self-Sourced facemask (AOR=7.2, 95% CI 1.4-37.10; p = .019) have appropriate practices towards COVID-19. <strong>Discussion and Conclusion </strong>This survey is among the first in Malaysia to assess Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice concurrent with facemask use. Our study indicate higher level of education , public employee and young adult have good knowledge on COVID-19 during local outbreak . 86% knowledge score on novel disease such as COVID-19 suggest that health education programs by Ministry Of Health were helpful in educating general public and maintaining safe practice . However targeted educational approach will be needed to improve levels of knowledge, attitudes and practices among less educated and those who are not able to procure own facemask.