Knowledge and attitude among healthcare workers towards COVID-19: a cross sectional study from Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia

Authors

  • Talal Qadah Department of Medical Laboratory Technology, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3855/jidc.13083

Keywords:

COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, knowledge, attitude, healthcare workers

Abstract

Introduction: The emergence of the new Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused a major impact on global health system. This cross-sectional study was designed to appraise the knowledge and attitude of healthcare workers towards COVID-19 and find out their understanding about clinical aspects of the infection.

Methodology: A total number of 1023 of healthcare workers responded to an online questionnaire and provided their data between February and March, 2020 in Jeddah city, Western province, Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire was distributed to physicians, nurses, pharmacists, technical staff and administrative staff working in clinical settings.

Results: Results revealed that mean scores for knowledge and attitude were 20.793 ± 2.436 and 4.744 ± 0.297 respectively. More than 88% of participants displayed positive knowledge and attitude towards COVID-19. Knowledge data showed that social media and the workplace, were the main sources of information for the majority of respondents. Approximately 99.12% of respondents were aware of the viral pandemic, and the causative agent. Statistically significant association was found when compared the demographic characteristics with the mean knowledge while no statistical significance was observed when compared demographic characteristics with the mean attitude score except with marital status.

Conclusion: This study showed that healthcare workers had sufficient knowledge and positive attitude towards COVID-19. However, hospital staff should be periodically given sufficient training to effectively cope with such outbreaks in the future.

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Published

2020-10-31

How to Cite

1.
Qadah T (2020) Knowledge and attitude among healthcare workers towards COVID-19: a cross sectional study from Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia. J Infect Dev Ctries 14:1090–1097. doi: 10.3855/jidc.13083

Issue

Section

Coronavirus Pandemic