Dental Faculty’s Knowledge and Attitude regarding COVID-19 disease in Qassim, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Present study aimed to explore the knowledge and attitude of dental faculty at Qassim University, regarding novel COVID 19 disease. Methods: The cross-sectional survey was conducted on the faculty at undergraduate dental school. The self-designed e-survey was administered to 78 faculty members to assess their knowledge and attitudes towards the COVID-19 disease. Data analysis was conducted by using SPSS version 23. Descriptive statistics were reported as frequency and percentages. Chi-square test was utilized to identify the correlation between the independent and dependent variables. The inferential statistics (Kruskal-Wallis tests and Mann-Whitney U test) were utilized for assessing the significance between study variables. The association between knowledge and attitude was evaluated by using Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. Results: A total of 55 faculty members (70.5%) responded. Mean knowledge score was 10± 2.71. 37 (67.3%) respondents showed positive attitude towards COVID-19 while 18(32.7%) displayed negative attitude. The mean attitude score was 4.08±0.50. Significant difference was found in knowledge (p-value=0.04) and attitude (p-value=0.015) of dental faculty based on designation.Conclusions: Qassim University dentists were mindful of the COVID-19 symptoms, means of transmission, Cross-infection control and operative protocols practiced within dental clinics. However, dentists exhibited inadequate knowledge about the specific dental procedures that safeguard the dental staff and patients from COVID-19 in context of current outbreak.

Knowledge, attitudes and practices about Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) among Birzeit University students: A cross-sectional study

“…In accordance with a study conducted in Uganda (Olum et al 2020), this study reported that females manifested lower knowledge levels compared to males. Our results are inconsistent with prior studies which reported that females had a signi cantly higher score than males (Al-Hazmi et al 2018;Zhong et al 2020; and one study which reported no signi cant correlation of gender and specialty with both knowledge and attitude (MQ et al 2020).…”

<p>Factors Associated with Infection-Control Behavior of Dental Health–Care Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior</p>

“…This finding is consistent with two earlier studies. 21,22 Intentions toward positive COVID-19 IPC behavior was also significantly associated with the age, current position, and work affiliation of the DHCWs. The older agegroup work in the academic field in both public and private sectors demonstrated greater positive intentions than the younger age-group.…”

Knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding COVID-19 among dental health care professionals: a cross-sectional study in Saudi Arabia

“…25,29 Hence, the Saudi government's understanding of the disease and preparedness may have played a pivotal role in the prevention of disease transmission. Similarly, previous KSA-based studies of DHCWs, 19 dental faculty 20 and HCWs 27 have also praised the efforts and role of the Saudi Arabian government in timely dissemination of information. Contrary to the present findings, some studies indicate that more COVID-19-related information is obtained from physician websites or social media.…”

“…The use of PPE, including N95 or FFP2/FFP3 masks, gloves, gowns, protective glasses, visors and headgear caps, is of the utmost importance during any dental procedures. 20,43 DHCPs demonstrated good practice management regarding clinical procedures. They agreed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, rubber dams, four-handed dentistry and saliva ejectors should be used along with minimal aerosol-producing procedures.…”

“…12,13 Thus, it is important that DHCPs are kept abreast of the latest guidelines and recommendations to effectively treat patients and simultaneously protect themselves from disease. To address these issues, studies on DHCPs of different nationalities [14][15][16][17][18][19][20] have been carried out to assess their knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) regarding COVID-19. To the best of our knowledge, there are no studies assessing practice standards of DHCPs across KSA, although Khan et al 20 assessed practice standards in the dental faculties of a single government university.…”