Perceived Effectiveness, Safety, and Attitudes Toward the Use of Nucleic Tests of SARS-CoV-2 Among Clinicians and General Public in China

Abstract

Objective: To assess whether there is a knowledge gap about the use of test kits for residents and to explore the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of using test kits in China during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic. Method: An online-based, nationwide, and cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 1,167 respondents were recruited from June 19 to July 2, 2020. All participants completed a validated questionnaire written in Chinese. Electronic consent was obtained from all participants upon their agreement to commence the questionnaire. Perceived efficacy, safety, and their attitudes toward the use of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) testing kits were measured.Result: The majority of the study respondents were female [749 (64.2%)], aged 31–40 years old [372 (31.9%)], and located in mainland China [1,137 (97.4%)]. The majority of the respondents held a positive view toward the introduction of the fast-track approval policy for novel coronavirus testing products (6.16 ± 1.30) as well as toward putting more investment in scientific research and biomedicine to improve the detection accuracy of detection kits (5.94 ± 1.55) in China. The respondents valued the detection accuracy more as opposed to the detection time of the testing kits (4.66 ± 2.00), whereas few participants agreed that in the research and development process, detection accuracy could be sacrificed to speed up production and coverage capacity (3.02 ± 2.04).Conclusion: The majority of the participants have a basic knowledge of the detection methods of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the types of test kits, as well as great confidence in China's domestic production of test kits and decisions. However, how basic knowledge, high compliance, and positive attitudes play a role in easing the tension of the pandemic still remains unknown.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior Related to COVID-19 Testing: A Rapid Scoping Review

“…Eight studies [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ] targeted participants of pilot testing programs (e.g., a telehealth system for testing [ 21 ] or the introduction of mass asymptomatic testing on a university campus [ 23 ]). Other target populations included patients or users of a specific health service or clinic [ 21 , 28 , 29 ] or health-related online app [ 30 , 31 ]; age-based populations [ 32 ]; health workers [ 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ]; students and/or staff based at universities [ 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 38 ]; employment groups, such as police officers or industry workers [ 39 , 40 ]; and groups deemed especially vulnerable to COVID-19, such as homeless populations [ 41 ], refugee populations [ 42 ], or pregnant women attending clinical settings [ 34 , 35 , 43 ].…”

“…Lateral flow testing is less widely represented in the evidence base and is more likely to feature in articles and preprints based on more recently collected data [ 22 , 38 ]. The characteristics of all studies included in the review are summarized in Table 1 [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 …”

“…Studies that explored facilitating factors included research on participants' knowledge and awareness of testing types and how they work [36,44] and research on people's identification and interpretation of COVID-19 symptoms, including how this affects testseeking behavior [30,[45][46][47]. Multiple studies in this research area gathered data on people's self-reported motivations for undergoing or avoiding testing [22][23][24]26,27,29,30,32,35,37,38,[40][41][42][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53].…”

“…Study results show that, since the start of the pandemic, members of the public in multiple countries have rapidly come up to speed with a complex typology of testing technologies and formats for the SARS-COV-2 virus and have, in many cases, gained a general understanding of the main symptoms and clinical presentation of the COVID-19 disease [36,44,53]. Nonetheless, the most important finding under this theme was an association between people's interpretation and (mis)recognition of symptoms and their test-seeking behavior, in many cases relating to their failure to seek testing when symptomatic [30,42,[45][46][47]49].…”

Provider attitudes and satisfaction with rapid preoperative point-of-care COVID-19 testing using ID NOW™

“…results showed that rapid testing has various limitations, including lower sensitivities and interruptions in normal clinical workflow. 28,29 Despite these shortcomings, we found that most frontline OR staff were satisfied with the use of this tool and that point-of-care testing increased feelings of safety and morale. The surgical environment is a potential source of COVID-19 transmission in the hospital via direct patient contact, contaminated droplet production, and aerosol-generating procedures such as intubation and open airway suctioning.…”