Coronavirus Disease-2019: Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices of Health Care Workers at Makerere University Teaching Hospitals, Uganda

Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging public health problem threatening the life of over 2.4 million people globally. The present study sought to determine knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of health care workers (HCWs) toward COVID-19 in Makerere University Teaching Hospitals (MU...

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Published in:Frontiers in public health Vol. 8; p. 181
Main Authors: Olum, Ronald, Chekwech, Gaudencia, Wekha, Godfrey, Nassozi, Dianah Rhoda, Bongomin, Felix
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 30.04.2020
Subjects:
Adult
COVID-19
Cross-Sectional Studies
Female
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Health Personnel - statistics & numerical data
healthcare workers
Hospitals, Teaching
Hospitals, University
Humans
Infection Control
KAPs
Makerere University Teaching Hospitals
Male
Public Health
SARS-CoV-2
Surveys and Questionnaires - statistics & numerical data
Uganda
Uganda
COVID-19
Uganda
KAPs
Makerere University Teaching Hospitals
healthcare workers
ISSN:2296-2565, 2296-2565
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Summary:Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging public health problem threatening the life of over 2.4 million people globally. The present study sought to determine knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of health care workers (HCWs) toward COVID-19 in Makerere University Teaching Hospitals (MUTHs) in Uganda. An online cross sectional, descriptive study was undertaken through WhatsApp Messenger among HCWs in four MUTHs. HCWs aged 18 years and above constituted the study population. KAP toward COVID-19 was assessed by using a pre-validated questionnaire. Bloom's cut-off of 80% was used to determine sufficient knowledge (≥80%), positive attitude (≥4), and good practice (≥2.4). All analyses were performed using STATA 15.1 and GraphPad Prism 8.3. Of the 581 HCWs approached, 136 (23%) responded. A vast majority of the participants were male ( = 87, = 64%), with a median age of 32 (range: 20-66) years. Eighty-four (62%) were medical doctors and 125 (92%) had at least a bachelor's degree. Overall, 69% ( = 94) had sufficient knowledge, 21% ( = 29) had positive attitude, and 74% ( = 101) had good practices toward COVID-19. Factors associated with knowledge were age >40 years (aOR: 0.3; 95% CI: 0.1-1.0; = 0.047) and news media (aOR: 4.8; 95% CI: 1.4-17.0; = 0.015). Factors associated with good practices were age 40 years or more (aOR: 48.4; 95% CI: 3.1-742.9; = 0.005) and holding a diploma (aOR: 18.4; 95% CI: 1-322.9; = 0.046). Continued professional education is advised among HCWs in Uganda to improve knowledge of HCWs hence averting negative attitudes and promoting positive preventive and therapeutic practices. We recommend follow up studies involving teaching and non-teaching hospitals across the country.
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Reviewed by: Jeffrey G. Chipman, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, United States; Keneth Iceland Kasozi, Kampala International University Western Campus, Uganda
This article was submitted to Infectious Diseases - Surveillance, Prevention and Treatment, a section of the journal Frontiers in Public Health
Felix Bongomin orcid.org/0000-0003-4515-8517
ORCID: Ronald Olum orcid.org/0000-0003-1289-0111
Edited by: Zisis Kozlakidis, International Agency for Research On Cancer (IARC), France
ISSN:2296-2565
2296-2565
DOI:10.3389/fpubh.2020.00181