Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Primary Care Physicians towards COVID-19 in Greece: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of primary care physicians and residents towards the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece. A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted in Greece during March 2021. The population frame for the study was a list of currently practicing primary care physicians and residents who were registered within one of the main associations of general/family medicine in Greece. Hierarchical multiple logistic regression analysis was performed for practices at higher levels (vs. lower) in relation to knowledge, attitudes, and general characteristics of participants. Overall, 194 participants completed the survey (e-response rate: 38.4%). In total, 94% of participants were familiar with official recommendations regarding SARS-CoV-2, and 88.7% were vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 or promptly intended to be. Physicians working in the private sector had a higher average practices score when compared to physicians working in the public sector (87.6 vs. 81.9, p < 0.05). Higher levels of attitudes predicted greater odds for higher levels of practices (odds ratio = 4.18, p < 0.05). Despite the relatively high COVID-19 vaccination rate of physicians, several participants were unvaccinated due to a then unscheduled first dose appointment. Attitudes were the only determinant for more proper practices towards the prevention of COVID-19.

The Attitudes and Practices Regarding COVID-19 among General Practitioners from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…While studies from Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, and Jordan also discovered that male healthcare workers, like the male GPs from Bosnia and Herzegovina in this study, had more positive attitudes toward COVID-19 prevention and control [15,32,38], another study from Saudi Arabia, and studies from India and China, contrary to the results among the Bosnian GPs in this study, showed that females had more positive attitudes than males [19,34,43]. Finally, a study that included GPs from the United States, Turkey, and Greece and another study that included only GPs from Greece found no connection between gender and attitudes toward COVID-19 prevention and control [7,29]. A study among frontline healthcare workers in India also discovered that healthcare workers with a longer length of service had more positive attitudes toward COVID-19 prevention and control [21].…”

“…Namely, this study revealed that among the Croatian GPs there were no significant associations between the various sociodemographic and employment variables and the GPs attitudes, and the only factor that was significantly associated with more positive attitudes toward the COVID-19 prevention and control was whether the GPs had finished formal education on the prevention of infectious diseases and occupational safety. Studies from several different countries also did not find significant connections between sociodemographic and employment variables and the attitudes of healthcare workers [7,20,23,29,30,40,41]. Studies from Saudi Arabia, China, and Pakistan confirmed that the participation of healthcare workers in formal education on the prevention of infectious diseases and occupational safety contributed significantly to their positive attitudes toward COVID-19 prevention and control, and this was also proven in this study, both for the Croatian and Bosnian GPs [28,30,34,42].…”

“…Considering the Bosnian GPs, the present study further discovered that more positive attitudes toward COVID-19 prevention and control were also found in older GPs (46 years or more), males, GPs with a longer length of service (15 or more years), GPs who had finished formal education on COVID-19 prevention for GPs, and GPs who had finished formal education on adequate hand hygiene. Studies in India also showed that older healthcare workers had more positive attitudes toward COVID-19 prevention and control [19,21], while studies from Saudi Arabia and Greece, as well as the results of this study concerning the Croatian GPs, did not find a connection between age and GPs attitudes toward COVID-19 prevention and control [29,34]. A study from Nigeria, however, discovered that older healthcare workers had more negative attitudes toward COVID-19 prevention and control [39].…”

“…This is a highly important issue since primary healthcare workers have a significant role in the containment of the spread of COVID-19 in any particular country, and it has been proven that a response built around primary care is also a more cost-effective measure, which is highly important for all healthcare systems in today's modern world [6]. To better understand the practices of primary healthcare workers regarding COVID-19 in a particular country, it is very important to know their attitudes toward the same issue as well as the various factors that have a strong influence on such attitudes, because it has been shown that participants with higher positive attitude scores are also more likely to score higher in their practice [21][22][23][28][29][30][31][32]. The connection between attitudes and practices can be explained by the reasoned action theory, which states that a person's intention to undertake a specific behavior is a function of their attitude towards that behavior [33].…”

Medical Residents’ Behaviours toward Compulsory COVID-19 Vaccination in a Tertiary Hospital in Italy

“…According to our findings, the rate of resident doctors who adhered to the COVID-19 vaccination programme is close to 100%; in fact, only 0.26% of them did not receive a vaccination. These results show a very high compliance rate of MRs towards compulsory vaccination even compared to studies performed in other states [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ].…”