Peak months of pandemic’s first-wave in India: a cross-sectional assessment of knowledge, attitudes and practice towards COVID-19 among internet-savvy individuals

Abstract

Background A successful pandemic response in populated geographies and resource-limited settings like India relies on informed decision making. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) studies performed during these times are crucial to illustrate how well a community adopts prevention strategies. Objective The present study, conducted during the peak months of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, aimed at assessing the KAP levels of internet-savvy Indians. Methods This observational cross-sectional study was conducted between 20 May and 10 October 2020. We employed a self-reported questionnaire using Google Forms, containing two parts-demographics and KAP evaluation-with the latter having three subsections of 10, 5, and 5 questions each. Data from completed questionnaires were extracted and exported from Google Forms and coded. Descriptive statistics and first-order analysis were conducted. Binary logistic regression was performed with a 95% confidence interval to determine significant associations between categorical dependent and independent variables. Results We received responses from 1154 participants (58.84% male). Most respondents had good knowledge of the disease transmission course (92.55%), showed seriousness towards the emerging illness (91.07%), had a good attitude towards personal hygiene and physical distancing (93.76%), and had followed good safety/hygienic practices (93.76%). Good attitudes differed significantly between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu provinces (OR 1.053; 95% CI 0.588-1.886; p = 0.0439). The survey participants did not show any significant gender differences in any question types (p > 0.05). Conclusions The results obtained add significant value to the existing KAP literature on COVID-19 in India and may help policymakers achieve public compliance with preventive measures.

Knowledge Gap Hypothesis and Pandemics: Covid-19 Knowledge, Communication Inequality, and Media Literacy in Lebanon

“…Research about gender and Covid-19 knowledge has returned conflicting findings. While Sultana et al (2022) reported that women scored higher on Covid-19 knowledge assessments in Bangladesh, Pinchoff et al (2020) found the opposite in India, and Marudachalam et al (2022) found no significant gender differences in the same country. Knowledge gap research that includes gender comparisons remains rare (Viswanath & Finnegan, 1996), and officials often fail to consider gendersensitive content and media that effectively target women (Anhang et al, 2004;Chhetri & Lepcha, 2022).…”