English

Abstract

BACKGROUND The public awareness about occupational therapy and its role is not much studied in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, this study intended to provide baseline data about existing knowledge, as well as to identify the knowledge gaps in specific domains of knowledge which could help in designing precise and targeted strategies to increase awareness about the occupational therapy (OT) services, their role, and scope among the masses. METHODS A cross-sectional survey was carried out among people of Saudi Arabia (SA) to explore the degree of knowledge they had about occupational therapy services. A developed and validated online structured questionnaire was used to collect data from people across all the five regions through social media channels. RESULTS The total number of participants was 4,440. Females represented 56.8 %, (N = 2520) of the sample, where 43.2 % (N=1920) were males. Majority of the respondents were Saudi 88.6 % (N = 3936), married 58.1 % (N = 2579), held higher educational degrees 71.4 % (N = 3172) and employed 59.9 % (N = 2469). Most of the participants were in the age range of 20 - 30 years 47.4 % (N = 2104). The overall mean score was 9.82 / 21 (SD ± 7.105) and 46.76 %, implying that the general public had poor knowledge about OT and its applications. One-way analysis of variance indicated a significant difference in knowledge among different regions of SA (P- value = < 0.05). Regionwise the highest mean score knowledge was in the Southern region (10.54), whereas Najran had the highest score (14.22) in city-wise analysis. Higher knowledge was associated with a younger age range (10.84) and level of education (median score 13). On comparing the mean score amongst the four domains of OT knowledge, the highest mean score (1.70, SD ± 1.348) was regarding OT goals, whereas the lowest (1.64, SD ± 1.658) was in the OT treatment methods. CONCLUSIONS The Saudi masses may not fully understand the specific services that an occupational therapist may provide. They had poor knowledge about OT roles and implications. Degree of knowledge was significantly affected by the level of education and younger age. KEY WORDS Occupational Therapy, Knowledge, Saudi Arabia, Attitude, Rehabilitation