Knowledge, Attitude, Practice and Predictors of Preventive Practices Toward COVID-19 among Healthcare Workers in Ogbomoso, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 quickly assumed a global epidemic with its attendant health, socio-political and economic impacts. Healthcare workers are particularly at increasing risk of being infected and transmitting the virus. This study assessed knowledge, attitude, practice and predictors of preventive practices toward COVD-19 among healthcare workers in Ogbomoso, Nigeria. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Data were collected online among health workers across health facilities in Ogbomoso. Factors associated with good practices were analyzed using Chi-square. Predictors of good preventive practices were determined by multivariate binary logistic regression. The level of statistical significance was determined to be at P < 0.05. Results: There were 132 study participants; with an average age of 31 years. Fifty-eight percent were medical laboratory scientists. Levels of good knowledge, attitude, and practices were 59.1%, 58.3%, and 38.6%, respectively. Eight-seven percent of respondents sourced COVID-19 related information via the mass media. Ninety-four percent of respondents will not stay at home if sick because of work. Age, profession, and knowledge are significantly associated with COVID-19 preventive practices. The predictors (Model II) of good COVID-19 preventive practices include being a laboratory scientist (odds ratio [OR]: 2.44 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.05, 6.71]; P = 0.039), working in primary health facility (OR: 4.72 [95%CI: 1.08, 20.67]; P = 0.039) and having good COVID-19 knowledge (OR: 3.71 [95%CI: 1.49–9.925]; P = 0.005). Conclusion: Our study has shown the predictors of good COVID-19 preventive practices among healthcare workers and the need for policy and practice change as it relates to COVID-19 infection prevention and mitigation among healthcare workers.

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

“…However, COVID-19 information source was a predictor in a study in Ethiopia 6 . Also, working in a primary health facility was a predictor in one of the studies in Nigeria 5 in contrast to being a health worker at a tertiary health facility in our study. In addition, good/positive attitude towards COVID-19 were not predictors in the studies in Nigeria 4 , 5 and adequate knowledge was not a predictor in Ethiopia 6 .…”

“…It is worth noting that the main and most trusted source of information about COVID-19 were not predictors. Similarly, the predictor of COVID-19 preventive practice in other studies were: good knowledge of COVID-19 (two studies in Nigeria) 4 , 5 , higher educational level (Nepal, Saudi) 9 , 10 , male gender (Saudi) 10 and 5 or more years of working experience in Ethiopia 6 . Also, COVID-19 information sources were not predictors in a study in Nepal 9 .…”

“…In comparison, higher prevalence of: 83.7% had good knowledge and 77.6% had good preventive practice (although similar proportion of 78.9% had positive attitude) about COVID-19 4 and 88.6% had good knowledge and 81.4% had good preventive practice about COVID-19 8 in studies in Nigeria. However, another study in Nigeria reported lower prevalence of good attitude of 58.3% and good practice of 38.6% and higher prevalence of good knowledge of 59.1% 5 . 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 .…”