Awareness, knowledge, attitudes, and practices before the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia.
Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci
; 26(13): 4926-4946, 2022 07.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1955409
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
The COVID-19 outbreak was first reported in Wuhan City, China in early December 2019. It was declared a pandemic by WHO in March 2020. This study aimed at assessing the knowledge, awareness, and attitudes of the general population in Saudi Arabia towards COVID-19, as well as its adherence to preventive measures and its willingness to take the vaccine. PATIENTS ANDMETHODS:
This descriptive cross-sectional study involved an online sample of 7,188 participants (from five regions of Saudi Arabia) who completed a self-administered online-based questionnaire. They were recruited from 23 November 2020 to 29 November 2020 based on the nonprobability convenience sampling method. The self-administered questionnaire comprised four main sections gathering information about participants' demographics, knowledge and awareness of COVID-19, participants' practices (hygiene and other) against infection, and vaccine acceptability.RESULTS:
More than half of the study participants were knowledgeable about COVID-19. The mean scores were 10.4 (SD=3.44, range 0-18 - with high scores indicating better knowledge or awareness) for knowledge and 6.1 (SD=2.26, range 0-11) for awareness, indicating a need for more educational campaigns to improve the level of knowledge and awareness among the Saudi Arabian population about COVID-19. The mean score for attitude was 5 (SD=1.67, range 0-8 - from 0=very pessimistic to 8=very optimistic), indicating moderate optimism. As for practices, the mean score was 7.8 (SD=1.57, range 0-10), indicating good practices to prevent or control infection. Concerning acceptability of the COVID-19 vaccine, 63.8% of the participants agreed to take the vaccine if it was proven to be 95% effective.CONCLUSIONS:
The findings of this study can help us designing effective measures against COVID-19 infections. Our results highlight the best practices adopted by the Saudi Arabian population, as well as those areas requiring improvement, including knowledge, attitudes, and practices against this disease.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Vaccines
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci
Journal subject:
Pharmacology
/
Toxicology
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Eurrev_202207_29217
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