The Knowledge, Attitude and Practice about Public Emergencies and the Response Capability of Residents in Shanghai after the Outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): A Cross-Sectional Study.

Jingting Lu,Xiaoyu Han,Xiaoqin Guo,Qi Zhao,Genming Zhao,Biao Deng,Na He

doi:10.3390/ijerph18094814

Abstract

People’s knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) are a part of the public’s emergency response capability and play an important role in controlling public health emergencies. This study aims to evaluate Shanghai residents’ KAP and the response ability regarding public health emergency events in China. An anonymous questionnaire investigation including demographics, socioeconomic characteristics and KAP was conducted through the online survey system from April 19 to April 30 2020. Of the 1243 people who completed the questionnaire, 1122 respondents (90.3%) had a good, positive attitude, while only 46.8% of participants had good knowledge, 46.2% performed well in the aspect of practice and 19.5% of residents had good response capability. It was found that men (OR:1.57,95% CI: 1.16–2.13), and people with 10 to 12 years or longer than 12 years of education (OR: 2.08,95% CI: 1.14–3.92; OR: 3.56,95% CI: 1.96–6.72) had the best public emergency response capability. Positive attitudes may be significantly associated with good practice (OR: 1.76, 95% CI: 1.18–2.64). Internet and television were the major media for people to acquire knowledge and skills. A lack of knowledge, poor perception and poor emergency response ability were found in Shanghai residents. Target intervention should be developed and implemented to improve the knowledge and skills of people for dealing with public emergency events.

Highlights

Introduction published maps and institutional affilIn today’s increasingly interconnected world, no community or country can be protected from public emergencies and disasters [1]
This study aims to assess people’s KAP towards public emergencies after the pandemic of COVID-19, to identify subgroups with negative attitudes, poor practice and weak public emergency response capabilities, to analyze the main determinants of KAP and emergency response capability, and provide information for addressing the public’s emergency response capacity
There were 796 (64.0%) participants who had received more than 13 years of education

Summary

Introduction

In today’s increasingly interconnected world, no community or country can be protected from public emergencies and disasters [1]. On January 30 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern [2] due to its rapid spread. Proper household preparedness is one of the most effective measures to mitigate the effects of emergencies or disasters [3]. This public preparedness plays an important role, to some extent, in a city’s response capability and determines the progress and degree of a community’s recovery from an emergency [4,5]

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