Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) Towards COVID-19: An Online Cross-Sectional Survey of Tanzanian Residents

  1. Sima Rugarabamu
  2. Mariam Ibrahim
  3. Aisha Byanaku

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Abstract

Background

The Corona Virus Disease -19 (COVID-19) pandemic is a global health emergency that requires the adoption of unprecedented measures to control its rapid spread. Tanzanians’ adherence to control measures is affected by their knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards the disease. This study was carried out to investigate knowledge, attitudes and practices towards COVID-19 among residents in Tanzania during the April – May 2020 period of the epidemic.

Methods

This cross-sectional study analyzes responses of self-selected Tanzanians who responded to an invitation to complete an online questionnaire. Survey Monkey tool was used to develop the questionnaire used for data collection. The survey assessed demographic characteristics of participants as well as their knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward COVID-19. A Chi-square analysis was used to compare proportions. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine differences among age groups, whereas results were considered significant if the p-value was <0.05

Results

Four hundred residents completed the survey. The mean age of study participants was 32 years, and the majority was female (n= 216,54.0%). There were no significant differences in demographic variables). Participants with a bachelor’s degree or above (n= 241, 60.3%) had higher scores. Overall, 84.4% (n=338) of participants had good knowledge, which was significantly associated with education level (p=0.001). Nearly all participants (n=384, 96.0%) had confidence that COVID-19 will be eliminated. The majority of respondents (n=308, 77.0%) did not go to a crowded place in recent days. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that males, age-group 16-29 years, and education of secondary or lower (OR = 1.2, CI = 1.3–1.5) were significantly associated with lower knowledge score.

Conclusions

Our findings revealed good knowledge, optimistic attitudes, and appropriate practices towards preventing COVID-19 infection. Suggesting that community-based health education programs about COVID-19 is helpful and necessary to control the disease.

Article activity feed

  1. Version published to 10.1101/2020.04.26.20080820v3 on medRxiv
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.04.26.20080820: (What is this?)

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

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    RandomizationResidents were recruited randomly by sending an invitation asking to answer the survey”.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Data Response was then imported into SPSS 17 and recoded.
    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: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    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

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.04.26.20080820v2 on medRxiv
  4. Version published to 10.1101/2020.04.26.20080820v1 on medRxiv