Knowledge, attitude, perception and practices towards covid-19 among rural dwellers in Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria

Abstract

Context: The novel Corona virus disease (COVID-19) has spread rapidly around the world and has brought unprecedented fear and anxiety. Several nations, including Nigeria, instituted strict prevention and control measures to curb the spread of the disease.Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude, perception and practices towards Covid-19 among rural dwellers in Akwa-Ibom state, Nigeria.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in the three senatorial districts in Akwa-Ibom state, using an interviewer administered semi-structured questionnaire on the ODK data entry app to obtain data. Data was analysed using SPSS version 22. Statistical significance was set at a P value of 0.05.Results: A total of 421 respondents participated in this study with 238(56.5%) females and 183(43.5%) males. The mean age was 38.6±16.1 years. Most participants were aware of Covid-19 (97.9%) and the most common sources of information on Covid-19 were the radio (88.4%) and religious organizations (60.4%). Most respondents had good knowledge (62.6%), positive attitude (85.9%), good perception (75.0%) and good practices (77.9%) towards Covid-19. Pearson correlation showed that practice of precautionary measures against Covid-19 was significantly associated with participants’ Knowledge and Perception of Covid-19 (r=0.117, p=0.017 and r=0.201, p<0.0001 respectively) but not with Attitude (p=0.136).Conclusion: The results revealed that there was good knowledge, attitude, perception and practices towards Covid-19 among the study population. Practice of preventive measures was seen to be weakly correlated to knowledge and perception.