Assessment of Preventive Practices Followed by General Public During COVID-19 Pandemic - A Cross-Sectional Survey From India

Chakrawarty, Avinash; Ranjan, Piyush; Thrinath, Arnav; Aggarwal, Eishvauk; Isaac, Joshua Abraham; Berry, Parul; Baitha, Upendra; Upadhyay, Ashish Datt; Chowdhury, Souradeep; Kumar, Arvind

doi:10.7759/cureus.11274

Cited by 18 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…This is attributable to the debated role of hydroxychloroquine, etc as pre-exposure prophylaxis against COVID-19 [ 17 ]. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the compliance to preventive practices was higher in HCWs when compared to the general population in areas of hand hygiene and social distancing in public places [ 18 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are health care workers following preventive practices in the COVID-19 pandemic properly? - A cross-sectional survey from India

Agarwal

Ranjan

Saraswat

et al. 2021

Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Revi

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Background and aims Health care workers (HCWs) are at increased risk of getting infected with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and suboptimal preventive practices have been identified as an important risk factor in this regard. This study was done to evaluate the preventive practices being followed by health care workers and identify reasons for suboptimal compliance. Methods A cross-sectional survey was done in HCWs belonging to various occupational roles and socio-cultural backgrounds across India through online platforms and telephonic interviews from July 30, 2020 to August 30, 2020. A scientifically designed and pre-validated questionnaire with good validity (CVR = 0.87, S-CVI/Av = 0.978) and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficient = 0.85) was used. Results The responses of 956 participants were analysed. Various suboptimal practices like touching outer surface of masks, lack of social distancing in cafeteria and duty rooms, inability to wash hands for adequate duration and properly follow steps of hand hygiene, inability to don and doff PPE properly, carrying PPE to duty rooms before completely doffing, use of personal mobile phones during duty and improper sleep were identified. Lack of knowledge, long duty hours, shortage of PPE, high patient workload, and casual attitude regarding own safety were identified as important barriers. Resident doctors and paramedical staff in the age group 18–30 years reported lower adherence. Conclusions Suboptimal compliance in preventive practices like handling PPE, distancing in cafeteria/duty rooms and hand hygiene is not uncommon in HCWs. Certain barriers are identified which should be addressed to ensure adequate safety of HCWs against COVID-19.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are health care workers following preventive practices in the COVID-19 pandemic properly? - A cross-sectional survey from India

Agarwal

Ranjan

Saraswat

et al. 2021

Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Revi

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“…Researchers have tried to study these changes by developing questionnaires to assess changes in lifestyle related behaviours, preventive practices and psycho-social functioning [ [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] , [18] ]. On the other hand, tools to assess social and behavioural changes have also been developed in the west but, their reliability and validity stands questionable and cannot be applied on the Indian population due to socio-cultural differences.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and validation of a questionnaire to assess socio-behavioural impact of COVID-19 on the general population

Kalanidhi

Ranjan

Sarkar³

et al. 2021

Diabetes & Metabolic Syndrome: Clinical Research & Revi

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Background and aim The aim of the study is to develop a valid and reliable tool to assess socio-behavioural changes. Methods This mixed method study has two phases. Phase I for questionnaire development (literature review, focus group discussion, expert evaluation and pilot testing). Phase II for establishing construct validity via factor analysis and internal consistency via Cronbach's ɑ by administering the questionnaire on 179 participants. Results A questionnaire comprising 33 questions and five domains was developed having Cronbach's α of 0·82. Discussion The developed questionnaire is a concise, easy to administer and valid tool to assess socio-behavioural changes.

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“… Ye et al, 2020 , Yuan et al, 2020 , WHO, xxxx , Schünemann et al, 2020 , Thu et al, 2020 , Xiao and Torok, 2020 , Weston et al, 2018 , Toussaint et al, 2020 , Prachthauser et al, 2020 , Modi et al, 2020 , Hou et al, 2020 , Cvetković et al, 2020 , Parikh et al, 2020 , Reuben et al, 2020 , Lawshe, 1975 , Yusoff, 2019 , Saleem, 2020 , Kumari et al, 2020 Dec 11 , Chopra et al, 2020a , Ranjan et al, 2020 , Kumari et al, 2020 , Öcal et al, 2020 , Chakrawarty et al, 2020 Oct 31 , Machida et al, 2020 , Chopra et al, 2020b , Dkhar et al, 2020 , Agarwal et al, 2021 , Singh et al, 2020 .…”

Section: Uncited Referencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and validation of a questionnaire to assess preventive practices against COVID-19 pandemic in the general population

Agarwal¹,

Ranjan²,

Rohilla³

et al. 2021

Preventive Medicine Reports

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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected millions of people worldwide with far-reaching socio-economic implications in society. The adoption of preventive practices by the public remains the mainstay in reducing the spread of COVID-19 but there is a dearth of validated tools to assess such infection prevention practices related to pandemics. This study was conducted to develop and validate a questionnaire for the assessment of preventive practices against COVID-19 in the general population. It was done following a standardized protocol involving questionnaire development through literature review, focused group discussions, in-depth interviews, expert opinion, and pre-testing. This was followed by the validation of the questionnaire through a cross-sectional survey on 108 individuals from diverse backgrounds in New Delhi, India in July 2020. Exploratory factor analysis was used to evaluate construct validity. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The developed questionnaire for assessing preventive practices consists of two sections: the first section of 18 items to evaluate preventive practices and the second section of 19 items for assessing various reasons for deficiencies in the preventive practices. The first section has good content validity (CVR=0.81 and S-CVI/Av =0.97) and internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha coefficient 0.82). Thus, this questionnaire is a valid and reliable tool for the comprehensive assessment of preventive practices and barriers related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be useful in assessing the preparedness of the public and will be helpful to policymakers in designing appropriate interventions for protection against COVID-19.

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Assessment of Preventive Practices Followed by General Public During COVID-19 Pandemic - A Cross-Sectional Survey From India

Cited by 18 publications

References 24 publications

Are health care workers following preventive practices in the COVID-19 pandemic properly? - A cross-sectional survey from India

Are health care workers following preventive practices in the COVID-19 pandemic properly? - A cross-sectional survey from India

Development and validation of a questionnaire to assess socio-behavioural impact of COVID-19 on the general population

Development and validation of a questionnaire to assess preventive practices against COVID-19 pandemic in the general population

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