Knowledge, attitude, practice, and factors associated with prevention practice towards COVID-19 among healthcare providers in Amhara region, northern Ethiopia: A multicenter cross-sectional study

Abstract

Healthcare providers (HCPs) are at an increased risk of getting COVID-19 as a result of their front-line works. Health behaviors of HCPs can influence prevention and control actions implemented in response to the pandemic. Hence, this study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) and factors associated with prevention practice towards COVID-19 among healthcare providers in Amhara region, northern Ethiopia. A multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted among 422 HCPs in selected public health facilities of Amhara region, between 20th September and 20th October 2020. Data related to HCP’s KAP and socio-demographic characteristics were collected using a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire. Bloom’s cut-off ≥ 80%, ≥90%, and ≥75% was used to determine adequate knowledge, positive attitude, and good prevention practice, respectively. Data were analyzed using SPSSS version 25.0. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors significantly associated with COVID-19 prevention practice. Statistical significance was determined at a p-value of < 0.05 and the presence of association was described using odds ratio (OR) with their 95% confidence interval (CI). Overall, 368 (89.8%), 387 (94.4%), and 326 (79.5%) HCPs had adequate knowledge, positive attitude, and good prevention practice towards COVID-19, respectively. Factors significantly associated with good COVID-19 prevention practice were being a Nurse in profession (AOR = 2.13, 95% CI = 1.13–3.99), having < 5 years of working experience (AOR = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.24–0.86), using social media (AOR = 6.20, 95% CI = 2.33–16.51) and television and or radio (AOR = 4.03, 95% CI = 1.56–10.38) as sources of COVID-19 information. HCPs had adequate knowledge, positive attitude and good prevention practice towards COVID-19. Being a Nurse, having < 5 years of working experiences, using social media and television and or radio were factors associated with good prevention practice. Thus, developing HCP’s professional carrier through training opportunities, sharing experiences and using verified information sources are crucial to better improve COVID-19 prevention practice.

COVID-19 information sources, knowledge, attitude, control practices and the predictors among health workers during the pandemic in Ebonyi state, Nigeria

“…Similarly, higher and lower prevalence were reported by foreign studies: higher prevalence of good knowledge of 48.2% and lower prevalence of good attitude of 33.8% in a study in Saudi 7 ; higher prevalence of adequate knowledge of 76.0% and appropriate preventive practice of 78.6% and lower prevalence of positive attitude of 54.7% in Nepal 9 ; higher prevalence of adequate knowledge of 67.8% and appropriate practice of 80.2% and lower prevalence of positive attitude of 72.2% in Saudi 10 ; higher prevalence of adequate knowledge of 69.8% and good practice of 87.7% and slightly higher prevalence of positive attitude of 85.1% in Yemen 11 ; and higher prevalence of good knowledge of 81.4%, good attitude of 87.1% and satisfactory practice of 77.9% in Jordan 13 . Higher prevalence (especially of good knowledge and good practice) and lower prevalence (especially of good/positive attitude) were also reported by other studies in Venezuela 14 , Ethiopia 6 , 15 , Sierra Leone 16 , and Pakistan 17 .…”

“…In our study, interpersonal sources like health workers was the main and most trusted source of information for majority of the participants (and traditional media such as radio was the second main and most trusted source). In comparison, the main information source was social media in a study in Nepal 9 and Yemen 11 ; ministry of health in Saudi 10 ; internet websites in Jordan 13 ; the World Health Organization 15 and radio/television 6 in Ethiopia.…”

“…Health workers were at higher risk of contracting COVID-19 compared to the general public because of their involvement in management of patients, including COVID-19 patients, and the risk persisted as new COVID-19 infections or re-infections continued to occur. Hence, the continued use of COVID-19 control measures by health workers was very essential and would very likely be influenced by not only their COVID-19 health information sources, level of knowledge, and level of attitude towards COVID-19 4 – 6 , but also by their level of use of these control measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…The knowledge, attitude, and practices about COVID-19 among health workers during the pandemic were assessed by some studies around the world and in Nigeria 4 – 17 . Fewer studies assessed health workers’ sources of information about COVID-19 6 , 7 , 9 – 15 . However, most of these studies were only online studies among limited categories of health workers and carried out during the initial waves of the pandemic.…”

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Nurses Regarding the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 at a Selected Regional Hospital in Namibia

“…The total scores in this section ranged from 15 to 60, with a score of 49 (81%) and above indicating good practices. Considering the risk that was involved in practicing infection control researchers chose a higher score of at least across the knowledge attitude and practice variables ( Ashebir et al, 2022 ). Five experts (a nurse and a doctor specifically trained on COVID-19 infection control; a public health specialist involved in managing COVID-19; a nurse who worked directly with COVID-19 patients; and one researcher in the academic unit of the university) examined the questionnaire and made recommendations on the categorization of good/poor knowledge and positive/negative attitudes.…”