Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Saudi Population towards COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Background: Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) is an emerging respiratory infection characterized by rapid transmission mainly by close contact with an infected person. To control its spread, Saudi Arabia adopted a very strict control measures including raising public awareness by all available means. The current study investigated the knowledge, attitudes, and practice of Saudi population, towards COVID-19 pandemic. Method: This study was cross-sectional. The study population were Saudis from the five regions of the kingdom. Data were collected by an electronic questionnaire after obtaining an ethics approval and informed consents. Three thousand six hundred and fortytwo subjects were included in the study. Data analysis was performed by SPSS version 23. Results: Most of the participants had average and good knowledge about COVI-19 constituted 52.7% and 44.8% respectively. The population practice and attitude towards COVID-19 was 84.0% and 96.9% respectively. Males had better COVID-19 knowledge compared to females. Nine hundred and ninety-two (48.3%) and 704 (40.9%) of males and females had good knowledge respectively. Females had more positive attitude towards COVID-19 than males (98.4% versus 95.5%). The positive COVI-19 attitude for the single, the married, the divorced and the widow were 95.7%, 98.2%, 97.3% and 96.6% respectively. Conclusion: The level of COVID-19 knowledge of Saudi population is average and the attitude of most population is positive. Males have better COVID-19 knowledge compared to females however, most females have positive attitude towards the disease compared to males. The level of COVID-19 knowledge increases with age and education level of the population. Population who have higher level of knowledge have positive attitude. The social media (Twitter) is the main source of COVID-19 information for the Saudi population.