Knowledge, attitudes and practices associated with the COVID-19 among slum dwellers resided in Dhaka City: a Bangladeshi interview-based survey

  1. Saiful Islam
  2. Galib Ishraq Emran
  3. Estiar Rahman
  4. Rajon Banik
  5. Tajuddin Sikder
  6. Lee Smith
  7. Sahadat Hossain

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Abstract

Background

The emergent COVID-19 has impacted unprecedentedly to all classes of people. Slum-dwellers’ knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) toward COVID-19 are currently poorly understood. The present study aimed to investigate the KAP toward COVID-19 among slum dwellers resided in Dhaka City, Bangladesh.

Methods

A cross-sectional offline survey was carried out enrolling 406 slum dwellers (53.2% male; mean age = 44.9 years [SD = 12.1]; age range = 18–85 years) between August and September, 2020. The face to face interview was conducted to collect data from six selected slum areas in Dhaka City using convenience sampling. The questionnaire consisted of informed consent along with questions concerning observational checklists, socio-demographics and KAP.

Results

A sizeable minority were observed without wearing face masks during the survey periods (18.2%) and a vast portion (97.5%) without any hand protection. The mean scores of KAP were 6.1 ± 2.6 (out of 17), 12.3 ± 1.7 (out of 14) and 9.8 ± 1.6 (out of 12), respectively. Moreover, the KAP were strongly and positively correlated with each other.

Conclusions

The findings revealed that the majority of slum dwellers in Bangladesh have limited knowledge of COVID-19. Poor practices (i.e. face mask and hand protection) were directly observed during the survey. The findings suggest the immediate implementation of health education programs and adequate interventions.

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  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.09.15.20195255: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board StatementConsent: The face to face interview was conducted to gather information from participants with maintaining proper precaution and spatial distancing using a semi-structured questionnaire including informed consent.
    IRB: Furthermore, the study was conducted in accordance with the ethical guidelines of the Institutional research ethics committee.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Microsoft Excel was used to perform data cleaning, coding, editing, and sorting.
    Microsoft Excel
    suggested: (Microsoft Excel, RRID:SCR_016137)
    An Excel file including all variables was imported in SPSS software.
    SPSS
    suggested: (SPSS, RRID:SCR_002865)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Limitations: This study has several limitations which warrant consideration. This study followed a cross-sectional study design that cannot establish causal inferences. Therefore, a longitudinal study would overcome this limitation in understanding potential causal relationships. Moreover, the modestly sized sample is only representative of the selected slums in Dhaka City and might not be representative of other areas or other countries. Therefore, studies utilizing bigger samples from more representative populations are needed.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

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  2. Version published to 10.1093/pubmed/fdaa182
  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.09.15.20195255v1 on medRxiv