Knowledge, attitudes and practices among Lebanese Obstetricians and gynecologists toward Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) and pregnancy

Abstract

Introduction: The pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has seriously disturbed the daily life of the general population particularly the life of the pregnant women. Since the obstetricians and gynecologists (OBGYN) are often the primary health care providers during pregnancy, hence the importance of their critical role in preventing and managing COVID-19 infection in their patients.Objectives: This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of OBGYN in order to identify existing gaps and to improve patient and occupational safety.Methods: A cross-sectional study, using an online survey, was conducted during the rapid rise of COVID-19 pandemic in Lebanon over the period extending between 20th October and 20th November 2020 among Lebanese OBGYNs. The analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Data collected is subjected to descriptive analysis. A good level of knowledge was defined when the percentage of correct answers reaches more than 80% of the respondents.Results: A total of 279 OBGYNs participated in the survey of which 57% were males. The majority of them (64.2%) were aged more than 45 years, married (79.9%) with large work experience (70.3%). Only 28.3% were reluctant to take care of COVID-19 patient. Most of them feared of contracting COVID-19 or transmitting COVID-19 to their family member due to occupational exposure and 42.3% felt overwhelmed. 62.7% of them considered that policies implemented by the ministry of public health are sufficient. The majority of OBGYNs had a good level of knowledge in different basic and specific domains related to COVID-19 and pregnancy. Furthermore, a good practice score in all relevant aspects (personal, clinic and patient) was revealed.Conclusion: The high knowledge and practice scores, among Lebanese OBGYNs disclose a strong commitment from the part of these physicians to fulfill their responsibilities during this pandemic towards themselves and their patients.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines among Obstetrician-Gynaecologists

“…The finding of a good level of general knowledge among the study participants is in line with a previous study of Youssef et al (2021) [35], but inconsistent with their results concerning knowledge of COVID-19, breastfeeding (78.9%), and pregnancy (77.1%). Similar to Holzmann-Littig et al (2021) [32], participants with vaccination hesitancy under-performed in the knowledge test regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.…”

“…First, no validated tool for the assessment of knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Obstetrician-Gynaecologists was available. Hence, tools adapted from previously published relevant questionnaires were used for the assessment of healthcare workers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices [34,35,36,59], and the WHO recommendations. Secondly, on the one hand, the long period of time for conducting the survey contributed to the good response rate; on the other hand, however, it may explain some of the differences between participants' knowledge, as knowledge was not assessed at the same critical phase of the pandemic.…”

“…A cross-sectional anonymous survey was constructed based on a literature review of previously published relevant questionnaires [34][35][36][37] and WHO recommendations. The survey was conducted between 27 April 2022 31 July 2022.…”

“…To offer strong recommendations to their patients, clinicians need to be updated regarding information about COVID-19, vaccine efficacy, safety, and reactogenicity [30]. Despite the importance of this topic, only a few studies have assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of health workers, including Obstetrician-Gynecologists, regarding COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines [31][32][33][34][35]. Physicians' perceptions of the vaccination of pregnant women and those wishing to become pregnant have also been reported [36,37].…”