Background This research explored awareness, perception, and practice of COVID 19 prevention among residents of communities in all the local government areas (districts) in Rivers State during the early stages of the pandemic response. Design This was a descriptive cross-sectional survey which employed an interviewer-administered four-page questionnaire built into the Open Data Kit application for android phones. Knowledge and practice scores were computed by scoring every correct response/action as 1 and wrong responses as 0. Knowledge was graded as excellent for scores of ≥80%, good for scores of 50-79% and poor for scores of <50%. Respondents who washed all critical parts of the hand were categorized as having correct handwashing practice. Setting Rivers State in the South-South region of Nigeria had recorded over 2000 cases of COVID 19 as of 18th August 2020, ranking 5th among the high burden states in Nigeria. As with any epidemic of an infectious nature, panic, fear, and misconceptions are rife. Risk communication utilizes multi-faceted activities geared towards facilitating correct and consistent knowledge and prevention practice. Participants Study involved 1,294 adult community residents in the 23 districts of the state. Results The respondents were aged between 18 and 80 years with average age of 39.6 years (SD = 11.9 years). A total of 710 (54.9%) were male, 476 (36.8%) were unemployed with 685 (52.9%) having secondary education. Almost all respondents 1,271 (98.2%) had heard about COVID 19. The three most common sources of information about COVID 19 were radio jingles 1102 (86.7%), television adverts 940 (74.0%) and announcements in Church 612 (48.2%). Overall, 608 (47.0%) of the respondents had poor knowledge of COVID 19. About 1167 (90.2%) of the respondents who were aware of COVID 19 acknowledged that COVID 19 is a problem in the state while 443 (34.9%) respondents believed they were unlikely contract the virus. Only 505 (39.0%) of the respondents washed all critical parts of the hand correctly. Conclusion Risk communication interventions during pandemics need to be based on an understanding of the gaps in knowledge, attitude, perceptions, and practice. Broadcast media has a pivotal role to play in risk communication for behaviour change for the control of current and future epidemics in this population.
Background As with any epidemic, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has evoked panic, fear and misconceptions. The risk communication pillar of the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre is responding to the pandemic by facilitating correct and consistent information to enable the adoption of behaviours to prevent and control COVID-19. This study explored awareness, perception and practice of COVID-19 prevention among residents in Rivers State, Nigeria, during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic response. Methods This was a descriptive cross-sectional survey among 1294 adult residents across all districts of the state. It employed an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Knowledge was graded as excellent for scores of ≥80%, good for scores of 50–79% and poor for scores of <50%. Respondents who washed all critical parts of their hands were categorised as adopting correct handwashing practice. Regression modelling was employed to determine predictors of knowledge and practice of COVID-19 prevention with p=0.05. Results The respondents were aged 18–80 y with an average age of 39.6 (SD=11.9) y. A total of 710 (54.9%) were male, 476 (36.8%) were unemployed with 685 (52.9%) having secondary education. The most common sources of information about COVID-19 were radio jingles (1102; 86.7%) and television adverts (940; 74.0%). Overall, 608 (47.0%) of the respondents had a poor knowledge of COVID-19. About 443 (34.9%) respondents believed they were unlikely to contract the virus. Only 505 (39.0%) of respondents washed all the critical parts of their hands correctly. Occupation (adjusted OR [AOR]=1.39, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.82, p=0.01), level of education (AOR=4.71, 95% CI 1.90 to 11.68, p<0.001) and location (AOR=1.75, 95% CI 1.29 to 2.38; p<0.001) significantly predicted respondents’ knowledge about COVID-19. The significant predictors of practice of COVID-19 were age (AOR=0.60, 95% CI 0.42 to 0.84, p=0.003), occupation (AOR=1.93, 95% CI 1.41 to 2.63, p<0.001), location (AOR=2.35, 95% CI 1.65 to 3.34, p<0.001) and knowledge about COVID-19 (AOR=7.75, 95% CI 5.94 to 10.11, p<0.001). Conclusions Broadcast media has a pivotal role to play in risk communication for behavioural change for the control of current and future epidemics in this population.
Background: There are evidence that Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) reduce COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality across different regions. Nevertheless, there is poor compliance to the COVID-19 NPIs among residents, especially in the second wave of COVID-19 in Nigeria. This study, therefore, explored the awareness, perception, enablers and potential barriers that influence compliance to the COVID-19 NPIs among the youth and adult population of Rivers State, Nigeria. Materials and Methods:This was a qualitative study that used twelve (12) focus groups, which comprised of a total of 120 participant (aged 18 -60 years) during the Christmas festivity period (18 th -20 th December 2020). Focus group exercise took place physically across 12 randomly selected districts in the three Senatorial Zones of Rivers State, Nigeria. The participants were of diverse socio-demographic characteristics of gender, ethnic, age and occupational and trade and social groups of Thematic analytical methods were used to analyse audio recordings. Results:The study found high community awareness of COVID-19 with low perceived risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2. Their major sources of information were town-criers and conventional media platforms such as radio, with little mention of social media and community opinion leaders' influence. Poor compliance to NPIs were largely attributed to perception which was influenced by their belief of the non-existence of the virus; with emphasis on -no physical evidence of survivals and victims, social stigma, distrust of the authorities, incoherent policies, and lack funds to afford a mask. Conclusion:The high community awareness of COVID-19 virus was not a factor for positive public health behavioural change and compliance to NPIs. Perception borne from their current belief system can further complicate the efforts to ensure reduction in COVID-19 transmissions rate. The need for social medial platforms to influence behavioural change in communities cannot be overemphasized and should be strategically utilized. The study advises the need to NGOs and CSOs to produce and encourage the use of locally made reusable facemasks to reduce further escalation of the virus transmission.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.