Misconceptions and Fears among Primary Health Care Physicians in Aseer Region, Saudi Arabia, regarding COVID-19

Abstract

This study aimed to identify primary care physicians’ misconceptions regarding COVID-19, and to assess their fear of COVID-19. Following an analytical cross-sectional study design in primary healthcare (PHC) centers in Aseer Region, Saudi Arabia, 515 PHC physicians were included. A self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. It included personal characteristics, misconceptions about COVID-19, and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale. Results showed that only 10.5% of PHC physicians did not have any misconceptions regarding COVID-19, while 53.6% had low misconceptions and 35.9% had high misconceptions. PHC physicians’ main sources of information about COVID-19 were the social media (58.1%), followed by the Internet (55.5%), and mass media (47%). More than half of primary care physicians (50.1%) had high grades of fear of COVID-19. PHC physicians’ misconceptions scores significantly and positively correlated with their COVID-19 fears scores (r=0.425, p<0.001). Differences in grades of misconceptions among PHC physicians differed significantly according to their nationality (p=0.003), but did not differ significantly according to any other personal characteristics. The youngest PHC physicians (aged <30 years) had significantly the highest grades of high fear of COVID-19 (58.4%, p<0.001). Female PHC physicians had significantly more high fear grade toward COVID-19 than males (56.6% and 47.2%, respectively, p=0.048). The study concluded that misconceptions and fears regarding COVID-19 are common among PHC physicians in Aseer Region. Social media is the main source of health information regarding COVID-19. Fear among PHC physicians is significantly and positively correlated with their misconceptions. Keywords: Misconceptions, Corona phobia, Fear of COVID-19, Primary healthcare, Saudi Arabia