Assessment of patients'knowledge, attitude and practice of cross-infection control in the dental clinic during COVID-19 pandemic

Background:The emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a highly contagious disease that causes viral respiratory illness, has changed the lifestyle of humans worldwide. Dental practitioners and patients are at high risk of infection during their routine practice due to their exposure to saliva, blood, and droplet production.Aim:To gain insight into the patient's viewpoint regarding the practice, altitude, and knowledge of COVID-19 and its transmission and cross-infection in dental clinics.Methods:This was cross­sectional analytic survey in dentistry during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aself-administered close-ended questionnaire consisting of 32 variables was distributed among the study participants. The data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. The level of significance was p ≤ 0.05. Results:The age of the participants varied from 20 - 58 years, with a mean age of 34.6 ±5. The majority (89.3%) felt COVID-19 was a highly contagious disease, while 50.0% of the respondents believed that the most common route of COVID-19 transmission in dentistry is through aerosols. The majority, 78.6%, recorded good knowledge of infection control following the COVID-19 outbreak. The number of married patients who had good knowledge of cross-infection control was 118, which was statistically significant.Conclusion:From the study, it is evident that the patients possess a good range of knowledge in both preventive and cross-infection protocols to follow during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the same cannot be said about the practice

Development of a Valid and Reliable Scale to Assess Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) on Frailty, Nutrition and Exercise among Malaysian Elderly

@#Introduction: “Frailty Intervention through Nutrition Education and Exercise (FINE)” program is an educational program, an initiative to ameliorate frailty status among elderly due to the alarming number of frailty cases in Malaysia. The current study aims to develop and determine the validity and reliability of the KAP questionnaire on frailty, nutrition and exercise to assess the effectiveness of the “FINE” program among the Malaysian elderly. Methods: The KAP questionnaire was created based on the developed frailty module and education materials. Content and face validity were conducted before the reliability study among five health professionals and 20 elderly, while 79 elderly were involved in a reliability study in three different Projek Perumahan Rakyat (PPR) flats in the Kuala Lumpur area. Data were analysed to determine its internal consistency reliability. Results: Six items were removed during content and face validity, two from each domain. All items in the knowledge section were within an acceptable range of difficulty and discrimination following the item analysis. Yet, item-to-total correlation removes one item for attitude and four items for the practice domain. The analysis found that the internal consistency reliability was 0.852, 0.732 and 0.600 for the KAP section, respectively. Conclusion: The final version of the KAP questionnaire consisted of (11) knowledge, nine (9) attitudes and six (6) practice items proven to be valid and reliable. Thus, it could be used to assess the effectiveness of the “FINE” program among the Malaysian elderly.

Determining compliance with the COVID-19 daily symptom monitoring tool used to identify suspected COVID-19 workers of the military health support formation employees of the South African national defence force

Introduction: the COVID-19 pandemic had prompted governments in many countries to enact laws and policies to combat the spread of COVID-19 at work. The DEL required every worker to be screened when they arrived at work. Screening methods included self-reporting symptoms using a symptom monitoring tool. This study aimed to determine compliance with the symptom monitoring tool by assessing the knowledge, attitude, and practice of the MHSF employees. Methods: a cross-sectional questionnaire was administered to the employees. Information related to demographic, COVID-19 exposure, knowledge of COVID-19 and the symptom monitoring tool, attitude towards the symptom monitoring tool and practices towards COVID-19 and the symptom monitoring tool was collected. Results: a total of 90 participants participated in the study. The majority (N=45; 50%) of respondents were aged between 30 and 39 years old, with more female (N=50) than male (N=40) participants. The majority (N=51; 56.7%) only had grade 12 as the highest level of education. There were 25% (N=10) of males and 20% (N=10) of females who contracted COVID-19. The relationship between the COVID-19 positive cases and the symptom monitoring tool identifying symptoms had a strong negative correlation (-0.932). Respondent's knowledge of COVID-19 and the symptom monitoring tool was moderate (72.4%), with the attitude to the symptom monitoring tool being moderate (63.3%) as well. However, the practices of the COVID-19 guidelines and the symptom monitoring tool were good (93.3%).

Knowledge and practice of covid-19 preventive measures: comparative analysis of medical and non-medical students university of Port Harcourt

The influence of COVID-19 has impacted the education sector just like it has other sectors. This study examined the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice of COVID-19 preventive measures among medical and non-medical students of the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers StateMethod: A comparative cross sectional study design using a self-administered structured questionnaire involving a total of 406 students; medical (200) and non-medical (200), using multi-stage sampling. Frequency, percentages, means, and standard deviation were used to describe data where necessary. Chi-square and Fisher exact was used to compare knowledge, attitude, and practice of COVID-19 preventive measures between medical and non-medical students. Results:The mean age of medical and non-medical students was 25.04 and 22.59 respectively. A total of 70% from medical students arm received COVID-19 vaccines while 15.5% of non-medical students arm. 152(73.8%) non-medical students and 123(61.5%) medical studentshad good knowledge of COVID-19. Positive attitude toward COVID-19 preventive measures was showed by 119(59.5%) medical students and 62(30.1%) non-medical students. Concerning practice of COVID-19 preventive measures, 99(48.1%) medical students and78(39.0%) non-medical students practiced appropriately. A chi-square test for association showed that gender, academic level, religion, accommodation status, vaccination status, geopolitical zone, and faculty of students were significantly associated withknowledge, attitude, and practice of COVID-19 preventive measures. Chi-square test also showed that knowledge of COVID-19 was significantly associated with the practice of COVID-19 preventive measures. Conclusion: Non-Medical students had better knowledge than medical student although difference was not significant. Attitude was good and practice of COVID-19 preventive measures was poor among medical students, while poor attitude and poor practice among non-medical students was observed

Knowledge and practice of COVID-19 preventive measures: comparative analysis of medical and non-medical students University of Port Harcourt

Background: The influence of COVID-19 has impacted the education sector just like it has other sectors. This study examined the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice of COVID-19 preventive measures among medical and non-medical students of the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State Method: A comparative cross sectional study design using a selfadministered structured questionnaire involving a total of 406 students; medical (200) and non-medical (200), using multi-stage sampling. Frequency, percentages, means, and standard deviation were used to describe data where necessary. Chi-square and Fisher exact was used to compare knowledge, attitude, and practice of COVID-19 preventive measures between medical and non-medical students. Results: The mean age of medical and non-medical students was 25.04 and 22.59 respectively. A total of 70% from medical students arm received COVID-19 vaccines while 15.5% of non-medical students arm. 152(73.8%) non-medical students and 123(61.5%) medical students had good knowledge of COVID-19. Positive attitude toward COVID-19 preventive measures was showed by 119(59.5%) medical students and 62(30.1%) nonmedical students. Concerning practice of COVID-19 preventive measures, 99(48.1%) medical students and 78(39.0%) non-medical students practiced appropriately. A chi-square test for association showed that gender, academic level, religion, accommodation status, vaccination status, geopolitical zone, and faculty of students were significantly associated with knowledge, attitude, and practice of COVID-19 preventive measures. Chisquare test also showed that knowledge of COVID-19 was significantly associated with the practice of COVID-19 preventive measures. Conclusion: Non-Medical students had better knowledge than medical student although difference was not significant. Attitude was good and practice of COVID-19 preventive measures was poor among medical students, while poor attitude and poor practice among non-medical students was observed.

Effect of information-knowledge-attitude-practice theory-based health education on clonorchiasis control among community residents and primary school students in Zhongshan City / 中国血吸虫病防治杂志

Objective To evaluate the effect of information-knowledge-attitude-practice (IKAP) theory-based health education interventions on clonorchiasis control among community residents and primary school students in Torch High-tech Development Zone of Zhongshan City, so as to provide insights into formulation of clonorchiasis control strategies among different types of populations. Methods Residents were randomly sampled from two communities and students from two primary schools using a random cluster sampling method in Torch High-tech Development Zone, Zhongshan City from 2019 to 2021, and health education pertaining to clonorchiasis control was performed based on the IKAP theory. The changes in the awareness of basic clonorchiasis control knowledge and belief, self-reported risk of Clonorchis sinensis infections and dietary behaviors were compared among community residents and primary school students before and after health education interventions. Results The participants included 146 male and 151 female community residents and 158 male and 153 female primary school students, with no significant difference detected in gender distribution (χ2 = 0.16, P > 0.05). The mean awareness of basic clonorchiasis control knowledge increased by 44.71% and 43.28% among primary school students and community residents 6 months following health education, and there were significant differences in the awareness of each item of basic clonorchiasis control knowledge before and after health education (χ2 = 41.53 to 284.44, all P values < 0.05). The proportions of primary school students and community residents thinking very high and high risks of C. sinensis infections increased from 9.35% and 6.71% before health education to 22.15% and 37.75% after health education, but only the difference of the attitudes in community residents achieve statistical significance (χ2 = 92.18, P < 0.05). The frequency of separation of raw and cooked foods with chopping board and knife significantly increased among community residents and primary school students following health education (χ2 = 16.04 to 62.65, all P values < 0.05). The frequency of eating raw freshwater fish (χ2 = 32.85, P < 0.05), fish congee (χ2 = 7.02, P < 0.05) and fish fillet hot pot (χ2 = 4.88, P < 0.05) significantly reduced among primary school students following health education, while only the frequency and proportions of eating raw freshwater fish have significantly reduced in community residents (χ2 = 11.77, P < 0.05). Conclusions Health education interventions based on the IKAP theory are effective to increase the awareness of clonorchiasis control knowledge and improve dietary behaviors associated with C. sinensis infections among community residents and primary school students in Zhongshan City.

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Towards Dengue Prevention Among Students at Tan Sri Mustaffa Babjee College, Universiti Putra Malaysia

@#Introduction: The aim of this study was to assess the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice towards dengue prevention among students at Tan Sri Mustaffa Babjee College, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Method: An analytical cross-sectional survey was performed with 214 respondents from Tan Sri Mustaffa Babjee College residents using a simple random sampling method. A self-administered validated questionnaire was distributed to respondents through student email and Whatsapp phone application. The acquired data was then analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences Software (SPSS) Version 27. Results: The majority of the students had moderate knowledge (17.14 ± 2.510), attitude (30.69 ± 4.065) and practice (7.97 ± 2.224) towards dengue prevention. The year of study was the only sociodemographic characteristic that had a significant association with knowledge (χ2 = 18.288, P = 0.013), attitude (χ2 = 18.526, P = 0.010) and practice (χ2 = 19.194, P = 0.014) of dengue prevention, while the factor of the study programme (χ2 = 31.599, P = 0.002) were found to have significantly associated with the level of knowledge. Conclusion: There was a significant association between dengue prevention knowledge and practice (χ2 = 11.838, P = 0.019), but no significant association between knowledge and attitude, as well as practice and attitude. College management should organize and regularly implement the dengue control activities that focus on both preventive action and expanding awareness of dengue prevention to ensure lifetime action and effective methods in controlling dengue.

Effectiveness of Malaria Free Zone Program on the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Malaria Prevention among university students in Conakry, Guinea: Protocol of a Randomized Controlled Trial

@#Introduction: Malaria is a vector-borne disease caused by the bites of infected female mosquitoes that transmit the parasite to humans. In Guinea, the entire population is at risk of malaria infection. The objective of this study is to develop, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of the Malaria Free Zone program using the Health Belief Model (HBM) to improve malaria prevention knowledge, attitudes, and practices among university students in Conakry, Guinea. Methods: The study design is a clustered randomized controlled trial (RCT). Students are selected using the clustered sampling method, with each university representing one group, either the intervention or control group. The sample size is 113 university students from each group. The content of the Malaria Free Zone program includes eight sessions, which are based on the HBM constructs. This program takes approximately 6 hours and 30 minutes to complete. Respondents are required to complete a questionnaire over four time points. Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) will be used to determine the effectiveness of the Malaria Free Zone program on malaria prevention knowledge, attitudes, and practices, adjusted with covariates. Conclusion: It is expected that there will be a significant difference in knowledge, attitude, and practice of malaria prevention in the post-test, 2-week and 2-month follow up of the intervention group after the Malaria Free Zone program. Students in the intervention group will have significant higher knowledge, attitude and practice of malaria prevention compared to students in the control group. Trial Registration: PACTR202102614259601

Development of an assessment scale of knowledge, attitude and practice on diabetic microangiopathy for primary care general practitioners using Delphi method / 中华全科医师杂志

Objective:To develop an assessment scale for measuring knowledge, attitude and practice of general practitioners in primary care towards diabetic microangiopathy.Methods:The knowledge-attitude-practice (KAP) theory was used as a framework to draw up the initial item pool based on related literature and guidelines during March to October 2022. Two rounds of Delphi consultation were conducted among 15 experts from general medicine and related fields. The positive coefficient, authority coefficient and coordination coefficient of experts were calculated, and the threshold table of indexes was screened, and the final assessment scale of KAP was developed after the two rounds of consultation.Results:The developed primary care general practitioners′ KAP assessment scale for diabetic microangiopathy consists of 3 primary indexes and 52 secondary indexes(25 of knowledge scale, 13 of attitude scale, 14 of practice scale). The positive coefficient of experts was 100.0% and the authority coefficient of experts was 0.89 in both rounds of consultation; and the coordination coefficient of experts was 0.319 and 0.322 for the first and second consultations, respectively (both P<0.05). Conclusion:A KAP assessment scale of diabetic microangiopathy for primary care general practitioners has been developed in this study. The expert positive coefficient, authority coefficient and expert coordination coefficient meet the requirements, which provides reference for evaluating the management ability of diabetic microangiopathy of primary care general practitioners.

COVID-19: Knowledge, attitude, and practice of health-care workers in tertiary care hospitals of Odisha – A cross-sectional survey

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a contagious viral pathogen, creating a public health emergency, and affecting lives and livelihood of millions of populations globally. Good knowledge, attitude, and practice are essential to prevent and stop the widespread transmission. Aims and Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding COVID-19 among health-care workers (HCWs) in tertiary care hospitals of Odisha. Materials and Methods: The present study is an observational, cross-sectional, and question-based online research. Questions were created on Google forms. Link was generated and given through social media apps. The questionnaire consists of four sections. First section comprised demographic characteristics. Second, third, and fourth sections contain questions on knowledge, attitude, and practice related to COVID-19, respectively. Descriptive and inferential statistical procedures were done through IBM SPSS statistics version 24.0. The research was granted approval by Institute Ethics Committee of IMS and SUM Hospital. Results: Data were analyzed in 430 subjects, 205 females and 225 males. The majority of HCWs have good knowledge score 86.5%, attitude score 80.9%, and practice score 91.2%. The mean knowledge score was 6.6 ± 0.84 and mean attitude score was 28.5 ± 1.89. Knowledge and attitude score was found to be significantly different among age groups and gender, p<0.001. Mean attitude score had a significant difference with working status, P = 0.025. Mean knowledge and attitude score was significantly higher across professions and work experience, P < 0.001. Good practice score varies significantly across professions, P < 0.001. Conclusions: The most of HCWs had good knowledge, positive attitude, and adopted appropriate practices regarding COVID-19. Periodic educational interventions are strongly recommended for HCWs to upgrade their knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding coronavirus diseases.

Knowledge, attitude, and practice of ophthalmic manifestations in COVID-19 patients at a tertiary care center

Purpose: Since the start of the COVID?19 pandemic, various manifestations have been reported, including ophthalmic symptoms, especially with the different mutations and variants that have occurred over the last few years. In view of this, our study was conducted to gauge the knowledge, attitude, and practices of patients toward the ophthalmic manifestations of COVID?19. Methods: This was a hospital?based, cross?sectional, observational study. Patients who had tested positive for COVID?19 were asked to answer a detailed questionnaire about their knowledge of COVID?19 ophthalmic symptoms, their experience with the symptoms, and their attitude and practice toward the same. The data collected was analyzed using Microsoft Excel, and the Chi?squared test was used to determine significant differences in the results among different demographic profiles. Results: Our study found that 82 (39%) of the 210 participants were aware that COVID?19 could present with symptoms in the eyes. A total of 47 participants had experienced eye symptoms of COVID?19. Among them, only 15 (31.91%) consulted and received treatment from an ophthalmologist or general physician for the same. Most of them (59.57%) did not seek any treatment, and 8.5% self?medicated or used non?allopathic forms of medicine. The most common symptom was redness of the eyes, reported by 57.44% of those who had eye symptoms. Conclusion: Most people were unaware of ocular manifestations of COVID?19 and most of those who were aware were medical professionals. Amongst those who developed symptoms, only a minority sought medical treatment.

Knowledge, attitude, and practice on adverse drug reaction monitoring among health-care professionals in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Pharmacovigilance has constantly gained importance in the past 15 years, relating to absolute amount of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and to the fact that several hospital admissions are due to ADRs. Knowledge of ADRs and practice of pharmacovigilance by healthcare professionals will definitely help to evaluate the quality of pharmacotherapy in hospitals and effectively decrease the occurrence of ADRs. Aims and Objectives: The objectives are as follows: (1) To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of health care professionals (HCPs) toward ADR monitoring and (2) to assess the causation of underreporting of ADRs. Materials and Methods: This study was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study. The questionnaire was distributed to 328 HCPs which included al doctors, nurses and pharmacists serving in ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Kalaburagi. HCPs who did not give consent to fill the questionnaire were excluded from the study. Results: The response rate was 82.92%. In our study, only 25.75% were aware that ADR reporting is to be done by doctors, nurses and pharmacists, and 40.44% felt that ADR reporting should primarily done by doctors alone. Overall participants who knowledge about ADRs and pharmacovigilance were 48.8%. Although 75.7% participants agreed that ADR reporting is important, over 76.5% HCPs felt that reporting ADR would be an obligation. In this study 12.5% HCPs have ever reported ADR despite having experienced one during their clinical practice. Majority of the HCPs had a belief that a single ADR reporting would not change the ADR database; hence, this could be one of the reasons for low rate of reporting ADRs. Conclusion: In our study, though the level of knowledge and attitude toward ADR reporting was adequate among the HCPs, there was poor practice of ADR reporting. Necessary measures to be taken to create awareness among HCPs about Pharmacovigilance Programme in India. They should be trained to spontaneously report ADRs.

Effect of Wechat KAP intervention on medication adherence and treatment outcome of college students with depression / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

Objective:To explore the effect of Wechat knowledge-attitude-practice(KAP) intervention on medication adherence and treatment outcome of college students with depression.Methods:A total of 184 college students with depression who received medical treatment in psychiatric outpatient department of Tsinghua university from January 2019 to September 2021 were divided into control group and intervention group( n=92 in each group). All students in both groups received routine health education, and students in intervention group received additional Wechat KAP intervention.Before and after the intervention, the changes of disease knowledge and medication attitude were investigated by self-made questionnaires. Medication adherence rating scale (MARS) was used to investigate medication adherence three times in half a year. Before and half a year after the intervention, self-rating anxiety scale(SAS) and self-rating depression scale(SDS) were measured and the treatment outcome was evaluated by △SAS and △SDS combined with GI. SPSS 11.5 was used for statistical analysis of data, including t-test and chi square test. Results:At the end of the 4th, 12th and 24th week, the shedding rates of the intervention group (13.04%, 18.48%, 31.52%) were lower than those of the control group (33.70%, 46.74%, 59.78%) ( χ2=10.96, 16.72, 14.81, all P<0.001). At the end of the 4th week and the 12th week, the MARS scores of the intervention group (6.57±1.67, 7.55±1.79) were higher than those of the control group (5.06±1.62, 6.53±1.76)( t=5.41, 3.13, both P<0.01), and the proportion of people who wanted to stop the medicine by themselves in the intervention group (5/80, 14/75) was lower than that of the control group (22/61、20/49)( χ2=19.87, 7.31, both P<0.01). After half a year, the △SAS and △SDS of the intervention group (12.01±2.01, 11.65±2.03) were higher than those of the control group (8.11±1.91, 7.83±1.82) ( t=13.38, 13.33, both P<0.001). GI in the intervention group showed significant improvement in 31 cases, slight improvement in 28 cases, no change in 24 cases, and deterioration in 8 cases, which were better than those in the control group (20 cases, 21 cases, 31 cases and 18 cases)( χ2=8.10, P=0.044). Conclusion:Wechat KAP intervention is beneficial to improve the medication adherence and treatment outcome of patients with depression.

Analysis on the level of knowledge, attitude and practice of rehabilitationfor postpartum diastasis recti abdominisinpuerperaeand the influencing factors of behavior / 中国实用护理杂志

Objective:To explore the current level of knowledge, attitude and practice of rehabilitation for postpartum diastasis recti abdominis inpuerperae, and analysis the influencing factors of behavior, in order to provide a reference frame for nursing staff to formulate effective health education programs.Methods:From November 2020 to April 2021, a self-designed questionnaire was used to investigate 522 puerperae from 4 tertiary hospitals in Guangdong province, Jiangsu province and Zhejiang province, to explore their level of knowledge, attitude and behavior of rehabilitation for postpartum diastasis recti abdominis. Mann-Whitney Utest or Kruskal-Wallis Htest was used for univariate analysis, Binary Logistic regression analysis was used to analysis the influencing factors of rehabilitative behavior.Results:The median score of knowledgedimension, attitude dimension and behavior dimension of rehabilitation for postpartum diastaisis recti abdominis in puerperae respectively were 47.0 (36.0, 55.0), 26.0 (24.0, 31.0), 15.0 (10.0, 18.0) points. The results show that the main factors influencing of rehabilitation behaviorfor postpartum diastaisis recti abdominis in puerperae were knowledge ( χ2 = 87.78, P<0.05), attitude ( χ2 = 4.77, P<0.05), number of deliveries ( χ2 = 3.94, P<0.05) and family personal monthly income ( χ2 = 4.88, P<0.05). Conclusions:At present, puerperae have a positive attitude towards rehabilitation for postpartum diastasis recti abdominis, but the level of knowledge and practice of rehabilitation for postpartum diastasis recti abdominisneed to be improved.Nursing staff should focus on puerperae with incomplete knowledge, negative attitude, multiple deliveries and low family personal monthly income.

Development and reliability and validity test of questionnaire of knowledge, attitude and practice for intensive care unit nursing staff on prevention of enteral nutrition complications / 中国实用护理杂志

Objective:To develop a questionnaire of knowledge, attitude and practice for intensive care unit nursing staff on prevention of enteral nutrition complications and test its reliability and validity.Methods:Based on knowledge-attitude-practice theory, the questionnaire was developed by using literature review, group discussion and Delphi expert inquiry.A convenience sampling method was used to select 204 ICU nurses from five hospitals in Tianjin from November to December 2021 for the survey to determine the reliability and validity of the questionnaire.Results:The finalized questionnaire included 3 dimensions and 40 items, explaining 68.499% of the variance. Cronbach alpha coefficients of total questionnaire and each dimension were 0.965, 0.946, 0.914 and 0.908 respectively. The content validity of the questionnaire was 0.929, while it ranged from 0.818 to 1.000 for each item.Conclusions:The questionnaire of knowledge, attitude and practice for intensive care unit nursing staff on prevention of enteral nutrition complications has good reliability and validity, and is suitable for measuring the current knowledge and nursing practice activities of ICU nurses on the prevention of enteral nutrition complications.

Investigation of knowledge, attitude and practice of sarcopenia among nurses and its influencing factors / 中国实用护理杂志

Objective:To investigate the nurse′s knowledge, attitude and practice of sarcopenia and to analyze the related factors.Methods:From November 10th to 22nd in 2020, self-designed questionnaires were used to survey the knowledge, attitude and practice of 1 056 nurses from 139 hospitals in 19 provinces, autonomous regions of China. Multiple stepwise linear regression was used to analyze the main influencing factors of knowledge, attitude and behavior of nurses with sarcopenia.Results:The average knowledge score was (24.25 ± 7.38) points, the attitude score was 63(55, 65) points, the behavioral score was (31.25 ± 13.28) points. Multiple stepwise linear regression results showed that the educational background and professional title of nurses were the maininfluence factors of knowledge score ( t=4.97, 3.35, P<0.05). The nurse′s knowledge score and whether they were teaching nurses or not were the main factors influencing attitude score ( t=9.12, -3.10, P<0.05). Attitude score, working years, and whether a nurse specialist were the main factors influencing behavior score ( t=9.82, 0.77, -5.29, all P<0.05). Conclusions:The nurse′s attitude toward preventing sarcopenia was positive, but their knowledge level was poor, the behavior intervention was insufficient. Nursing managers should carry out training of sarcopenia actively, to improve the screening, evaluation and early intervention ability of nurses for sarcopenia.

Knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) towards anaemia among female university students in Malaysia: A cross-sectional survey

@#Introduction: Anaemia is a common health problem in Malaysia, most common being iron deficiency anaemia (IDA). This study aimed to assess knowledge, attitude, practices (KAP), and health-seeking behaviour (HSB) towards anaemia among undergraduate female students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 180 female university students from a medical university in Malaysia. Data were collected using an online questionnaire comprising KAP and HSB. SPSS version 25.0 was used for statistical analysis. Results: Most participants (60%) had an appropriate level of knowledge about anaemia. A positive attitude was shown with adequate awareness of anaemia. A total of 55.5% of participants reported having good health practices. However, 52.9% of the participants consumed less iron-rich foods and 81.7% reported skipping meals. The overall observed healthseeking behaviour was good. A statistically significant relationship was found between knowledge with attitude (p=0.003) and practice (p=0.005). This study observed that the study population had poor nutritional status, long menstrual duration, and vegetarianism. Moreover, infrequent consumption of vitamin C-rich fruits and low iron-folate supplementation were also observed. Conclusion: A good level of knowledge on IDA among students was noted. However, most of the students showed a lack of positive attitude and good practices towards preventing anaemia. University students are prone to IDA due to a lack of KAP, which can significantly affect health-seeking behaviour. This issue should not be neglected; therefore, implementing intervention programmes to educate students on the preventive measures against the risk factors of IDA is recommended.

COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and practices among health care workers in Latin America / Conhecimento, atitudes e práticas em relação à COVID-19 entre profissionais de saúde na América Latina

ABSTRACT Objective: To evaluate COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and practices among health care workers (HCWs) practicing in Latin American countries during the first surge of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This was a multinational cross-sectional survey study, using an online self-administered questionnaire. The final version of the questionnaire comprised 40 questions, organized in five sections: demographic and professional characteristics; COVID-19 knowledge; attitudes toward COVID-19; COVID-19 practices; and institutional resources. Results: The study involved 251 HCWs from 19 Latin American countries who agreed to participate. In our sample, 77% of HCWs participated in some sort of institutional training on COVID-19, and 43% had a low COVID-19 knowledge score. COVID-19 knowledge was associated with the type of health center (public/private), availability of institutional training, and sources of information about COVID-19. Concerns about not providing adequate care were reported by 60% of the participants. The most commonly used ventilatory strategies were protective mechanical ventilation, alveolar recruitment maneuvers, and prone positioning, and the use of drugs to treat COVID-19 was mainly based on institutional protocols. Conclusions: In this multinational study in Latin America, almost half of HCWs had a low COVID-19 knowledge score, and the level of knowledge was associated with the type of institution, participation in institutional training, and information sources. HCWs considered that COVID-19 was very relevant, and more than half were concerned about not providing adequate care to patients.

RESUMO Objetivo: Avaliar o conhecimento, atitudes e práticas em relação à COVID-19 entre profissionais de saúde atuantes em países da América Latina durante o primeiro surto da pandemia. Métodos: Estudo multinacional transversal com uso de questionário on-line autoaplicável. A versão final do questionário foi composta por 40 perguntas, organizadas em cinco seções: características demográficas e profissionais; conhecimento sobre COVID-19; atitudes em relação à COVID-19; práticas relacionadas à COVID-19; e recursos institucionais. Resultados: O estudo envolveu 251 profissionais de saúde de 19 países da América Latina que aceitaram participar. Em nossa amostra, 77% dos profissionais de saúde participaram de algum tipo de treinamento institucional sobre COVID-19 e 43% tiveram baixa pontuação de conhecimento sobre COVID-19. O conhecimento sobre COVID-19 apresentou associação com o tipo de instituição de saúde (pública/privada), disponibilidade de treinamento institucional e fontes de informação. Receio de não prestar atendimento adequado foi relatado por 60% dos participantes. As estratégias ventilatórias mais utilizadas foram ventilação mecânica protetora, manobras de recrutamento alveolar e posição prona, e o uso de medicamentos para tratar a COVID-19 foi baseado principalmente em protocolos institucionais. Conclusões: Neste estudo multinacional na América Latina, quase metade da amostra teve baixa pontuação de conhecimento sobre COVID-19 e o nível de conhecimento apresentou associação com o tipo de instituição, participação em treinamento institucional e fontes de informação. Os profissionais de saúde consideravam a COVID-19 muito relevante, e mais da metade tinha receio de não prestar atendimento adequado aos pacientes.

Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice on family planning among women of reproductive age at hospitals and clinic centers in the rural Western Sierra Leone

Informed decisions about one's sexual and reproductive health can be made through family planning. Women of reproductive age in rural Sierra Leone's Western area were asked to participate in a survey to determine their attitudes and knowledge toward family planning and the use of contraceptives. A descriptive cross-sectional study survey was conducted in the Western Area Rural of Sierra Leone. Females in the range of 15 to 49 years old were included in the study. The research was conducted from November 2021 to December 2021. Using a pre-designed and pretested questionnaire, 180 women were assessed for their knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding family planning. According to the study, all participants knew about family planning, but only 68.3% had used contraceptives. There were more than half who learned about it from the media. The study found that 95% of participants had a positive attitude towards contraceptives. Most commonly, contraceptives used were oral pills (31.6), injections (21.1%), implants (19.1%), lactational amenorrhea (13.8%), condoms (8.8%), and intrauterine devices (5%). In our study, the most common reasons given by participants for not using contraceptives were; not willing to disclose 52.6%, a desire for a child 19.2%, fear of side effects 15.7%, currently pregnant 8.7%, and against religious beliefs 3.5%. The study shows that even if people are aware and educated about contraceptives, they may not use them. Educating and motivating people and improving access to family planning services are still necessary to improve the effectiveness and appropriateness of contraceptive use and halt the population growth trend. (Afr J Reprod Health 2022; 26 [6]:15-21).

A Systematic Review of Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) of People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA)

@#Aims: The combination of knowledge, attitudes and practices is an important psycho-behavioural mechanism in the disease-management strategies of HIV patients. This study reviews the global evidence of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of HIV patients. Design: Systematic review. Data sources: Four databases- Pubmed, Scopus, Science Direct and Web of Science (WOS) were searched from January 10 to April 25, 2021. Methods: Databases were searched for the predefined keywords of “knowledge”, “attitudes”, “practices”, “people living with HIV/AIDS” and “HIV/AIDS”. The inclusion criteria were limited to time range, language and study types and nature. PRISMA was followed and JBI quality assessment tools for cross-sectional and qualitative studies were used. Results: A total of 18 papers have been selected for the extraction of 1964 articles. The KAP were assessed related to nutrition, infant feeding, disclosure of HIV/AIDS, WASH (or hygiene), oral health, cancer-related domains with HIV/AIDS and HA(ART). Relevant dimensional KAP were incorporated with the basic items about HIV/AIDS. Overall, a mixed level of knowledge, discriminatory attitudes and malpractices were observed throughout the study. Socio-economic, counselling, support and dimensions related factors were identified as associated risk factors. Conclusion: Variation in assessing KAP is a critical problem and unique, outcome-based KAP assessment tools integrated with qualitative assessments were suggested to examine the interrelationship of the KAP components and outcomes.