Knowledge, attitudes, and fear of COVID-19 during the Rapid Rise Period in Bangladesh

Abstract

The study aims to determine the level of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) related to COVID-19 preventive health habits and perception of fear towards COVID-19 in subjects living in Bangladesh. Design: Prospective, cross-sectional survey of (n = 2157) male and female subjects, 13-88 years of age, living in Bangladesh. Methods: Ethical approval and trial registration were obtained before the commencement of the study. Subjects who volunteered to participate and signed the informed consent were enrolled in the study and completed the structured questionnaire on KAP and Fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S). Results: Twenty-eight percent (28.69%) of subjects reported one or more COVID-19 symptoms, and 21.4% of subjects reported one or more co-morbidities. Knowledge scores were slightly higher in males (8.75± 1.58) than females (8.66± 1.70). Knowledge was significantly correlated with age (p < .005), an education level (p < .001), attitude (p < .001), and urban location (p < .001). Knowledge scores showed an inverse correlation with fear scores (p < .001). Eighty-three percent (83.7%) of subjects with COVID-19 symptoms reported wearing a mask in public, and 75.4% of subjects reported staying away from crowded places. Subjects with one or more symptoms reported higher fear compared to subjects without (18.73± 4.6; 18.45± 5.1). Conclusion: Bangladeshis reported a high prevalence of self-isolation, positive preventive health behaviors related to COVID-19, and moderate to high fear levels. Higher knowledge and Practice were found in males, higher education levels, older age, and urban location. Fear of COVID-19 was more prevalent in female and elderly subjects. A positive attitude was reported for the majority of subjects, reflecting the belief that COVID-19 was controllable and containable.

The Mediating Effects of Fear of COVID-19 and Depression on the Association Between Intolerance of Uncertainty and Emotional Eating During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Turkey

“…More specifically, females were found to have significantly higher levels of emotional eating, which is in line with the findings of previous empirical studies (e.g., Larsen et al 2006). It was also found that females reported higher levels of fear of COVID-19, which has also been found in other recent studies (e.g., Broche-Perez et al 2020;Hossain et al 2020;Sakib et al 2020). Therefore, it appears that the COVID-19 pandemic has emotionally affected females more negatively than males.…”

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Toward COVID-19 Pandemic Among Population Visiting Dessie Health Center for COVID-19 Screening, Northeast Ethiopia

“…The majority of the respondents (72.9%) have confidence that Ethiopia can win the battle against COVID-19. This finding is in line with KAP study reports from China, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and India, 22 , 25 , 27 , 33 which reported high levels of positive attitudes towards combating the pandemic. The authors in these previous studies attributed the positive attitudes to the drastic measures taken by their governments (such as traffic limits and the lockdown of cities and counties) in mitigating the spread of the virus.…”

“…The possible reason for this discrepancy might be the fact that nearly all participants in these previous studies possess an academic degree or higher; and would actively grasp knowledge, respond actively to the severe condition of the pandemic and the overwhelming news reports, by collecting information from reliable sources such as official health related websites. Moreover, the magnitude of poor knowledge (48.7%) in this study was found to be higher than study reports from Kenya, 23 USA, 24 Bangladesh, 25 and China, 26 which is mainly attributed to differences in access for electricity and internet for accessing social media and other reliable source of information.…”

“…A similar study conducted in Malaysia showed that the younger population were associated with good knowledge 27 and a study in Cameroon indicated the presence of statistically significant association of gender with knowledge on transmission of the disease. 28 Another study finding from Bangladesh 25 reported that young individuals had more knowledge than the older counterparts. In the same scenario a study from Addis Zemen, Ethiopia 18 and USA, 29 revealed that an increase in age was associated with poor knowledge.…”

Knowledge, attitude, practice towards COVID-19 pandemic and its prevalence among hospital visitors at Ataye district hospital, Northeast Ethiopia

“…Findings from the current study revealed that female study participants had shown a higher likelihood of having low level of knowledge (AOR = 32, 95% CI: 7.66, 133.7, P<0.001). On the contrary, a comparable knowledge level was reported among males and females from a study conducted in Bangladeshi [ 40 ] which might be attributable to the presence of good educational support for females in the country. Whereas, like many other developing countries, educational support for females in Ethiopia has not been well developed yet.…”