KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, PRACTICE AND ANXIETY OF HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS PERTAINING TO THE OUTBREAK OF COVID -19

Abstract

Background: The COVID -19 pandemic is highly dangerous with its rapid rate of spread and death rate all over the world; it has caused a lot of stress and anxiety in the public as well as in healthcare professionals. Objective: To find out knowledge, attitude, practice and anxiety of different health care professionals towards COVID-19. Methods: A cross sectional Survey was conducted on n=429 healthcare professionals including doctors, nurses, physical therapists and technicians(laboratory technicians, imaging technicians, OT staff )among different hospitals of Rawalpindi during the month of May to December, 2020. Data was collected through non probability convenient sampling. To find the knowledge, attitude, practice and anxiety, a self-structured questionnaire was administered after content validity from two experts. The data was analyzed and interpreted using SPSS ver 21. Results: The mean age of the health care professional was 30.30±8.82 years. The mean score of the knowledge of all health care professionals was 11.13±1.16 showing good knowledge about the disease, its spread and preventive measures. There was negative 7.57±1.83 attitude with significant difference (p=0.001) among the healthcare professionals. The mean score (8.51±0.84) of practice regarding COVID-19 was good and anxiety was high 56.85±9.93, showing higher levels of stress among all health care professionals. There was no significant difference (p≥0.05) among knowledge, practice and anxiety level, but significant difference (p<0.001) was observed among healthcare professional regarding the attitude towards COVID-19. Conclusion: The knowledge and practice regarding COVID19 among different health care providers found to be good. However; there is a difference in attitude of health care professionals that was shown to be negative. Anxiety remained unaffected from change in knowledge, attitude and practice. However knowledge, attitude and practice affect each other. Keywords: Anxiety, Attitude, Corona, COVID-19, Health Care Professionals, KAP, Knowledge