Evaluation of Awareness in Relation to Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Towards Preventive Measures Among Malaysian in Early Outbreak of Covid-19

Abstract

Many efforts are currently underway around the world to improve public awareness about preventive measures and to disseminate appropriate information about COVID-19 in curbing the spread of the disease. This study aims to determine the level of awareness on control and prevention of COVID-19 among population in Malaysia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 355 participants in between March 30th to May 21st, 2020. A set of questionnaire that consists of five main themes: (1) socio-demographics, (2) awareness, (3) knowledge, (4) attitudes, and (5) practices towards prevention and controlling COVID-19 were distributed via online using google forms. The overall Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) scores was analyzed based on Bloom’s cut-off point of 80%. The results of this study show that Malaysians’ awareness highly influence their knowledge, attitude, and practices in preventing and controlling COVID-19 spread. Although the results are reasonably good, it is recommended for further awareness to be undertaken to continuously raise the awareness level and to remove any negative stigma and attitude that consequently produce better practices to prevent the spread of this virus, so that Malaysia is capable of stopping the COVID-19 infectious virus. Virtual awareness programs should be conducted to provide the public with the most up-to-date information on infection control procedures and how to maintain a hygienic environment, as well as encourage people to adopt social distance and avoid social gatherings.

Pemberdayaan Wakaf Produktif: Analisis Pengetahuan, Sikap, dan Praktik Takmir Masjid di Indonesia

“…Penelitian dengan menggunakan teori KAP digunakan untuk mengetahui bagaimana pengetahuan pada pemahaman responden terhadap suatu kejadian, attitude atau sikap merepresentasikan kepada sikap tentang suatu gagasan yang sebelumnya dimiliki, dan practice atau perilaku mengacu kepada cara responden berperilaku untuk menanggapi suatu kasus (Hanifah et al, 2020). Pada dasarnya, model Knowledge Attitude and Practice (KAP) merupakan teori cognitive-affective-behaviour dalam psikologi sosial (Hasan et al, 2022). Tujuan dari model KAP adalah untuk memperoleh apa yang diketahui (knowledge), diyakini (attitude), dan yang dilakukan (practice) (Andrade et al, 2020;Kamil et al, 2019), dalam hal ini peneliti melakukan JIEP: Journal of Islamic Economics and Philanthropy Volume 6, Nomor 2, May 2023 E-ISSN: 2655-335X https://ejournal.unida.gontor.ac.id/index.php/JIEP/index modifikasi menggunakan teori KAP untuk mengukur pemberdayaan wakaf oleh takmir masjid di Indonesia.…”