Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices towards COVID-19 among Pregnant Women in Northern Bangladesh: A Community-Based Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, remains a global public health concern despite the availability of effective antiviral treatment against multiple strains. Studies have shown that pregnant women are more susceptible to COVID-19 due to altered physiology and immunological features. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate pregnant women’s knowledge, attitudes, and practice (KAP) to prevent COVID-19 and determine the factors associated with KAP. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 425 pregnant women in Northern Bangladesh. The samples were obtained using a simple random sampling technique from 5 April to 15 June 2020. The data were collected by face-to-face survey with a structured and pre-tested questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 25. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed, and p-values < 0.05 at 95% CI were considered statistically significant. Results: Overall, the score of KAP among the respondents was 47.76%, 49.41%, and 56.24%, respectively. Participants’ area of residence, educational status of the husband, and antenatal care (ANC) visit were significantly associated with the level of knowledge, whereas age, educational status of the husband, number of living children, and knowledge were significant predictors of attitude. The knowledge of COVID-19 was the only predictor associated with the practice. Conclusion: Our study shows that almost half of the participants had poor knowledge, a negative attitude, and poor practices regarding COVID-19. Additional health education programs by healthcare professionals and different media, coordinated and combined efforts of government and individuals’ participation will be required to fight the spread of the infection.

Vaccine Hesitancy in Women of Childbearing Age and Occupational Physicians: Results from a Cross-Sectional Study (Italy, 2022)

“…In other words, the present study only collected one-third of the sample size it would have required in order to gather sufficient statistical power. Still, as the specific topic of immunization of childbearing-age women in occupational settings has been assessed in only a limited fashion, particularly in Italy, and available evidence has been mostly collected from healthcare workers [7,29,[104][105][106][107], our preliminary results could provide some insight for potential interventions aimed to improve the overall delivery of vaccines by OPs.…”

“…In order to cope with this potential shortcoming, our study only included participants that were drawn from discussion groups, whose participation was limited to individuals having previously received a specific invitation from the manager and answered specific "selection" questions [118]. Moreover, we do not know how often sampled participants are usually requested to contribute to workers' vaccinations, and more specifically to the vaccination practice of pregnant women [7,29,36,53,[104][105][106][107].…”