Public Knowledge and Practices Regarding Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Cross-Sectional Survey From Pakistan
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Abstract
Objectives: Effective mitigation of coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) pandemic requires true adoption of precautionary measures by the masses, that primarily depends upon their knowledge and practices behaviors. The current study aimed to assess the knowledge; practices of Pakistani residents regarding COVID-19 and factors associated with adequate knowledge and positive practices.
Material and Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted from 15-April 2020 to 20 May 2020 among 689 Pakistanis by using a validated self-administered questionnaire (Cronbach's alpha 0.77). The questionnaire included questions on the assessment of demographics, the source of information, knowledge, and practice of COVID-19 on google forms and shared links with the WhatsApp groups, Facebook pages and other online platforms. Regression analysis was applied to find potential predictors of knowledge and practices.
Results: Of 689 participants, 431 (62.6%) were male, 64.3% ( n = 443) were aged <30 years, and\328 (47.6%) of participants were married. 48.19% ( n = 332) had adequate knowledge; 81% ( n = 555) had positive practices regarding COVID-19 and majority (66.62%, n = 459) seek knowledge from social media. Knowledge was significantly higher (OR > 1.00, p < 0.05) among educated and higher income participants. Positive practices were significantly (OR > 1.00, p < 0.05) related to the older age (≥50 years), higher education, higher income and good knowledge regarding COVID-19.
Conclusion: The study concluded that Pakistani residents had average knowledge and good practices toward COVID-19 yet there are gaps in specific aspects of knowledge, and practice that should be focused in future awareness and educational campaigns. The study recommends the ministry of health authorities to promote all precautionary and preventive measures of COVID-19-consisting of a better-organized approach to all strata of society: less privileged people, older ones and less educated people, in order to have equilibrium of knowledge about COVID-19; hence effective implementation of precautionary measures.
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SciScore for 10.1101/2020.06.01.20119404: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement Consent: The study questionnaire contained a consent portion that stated purpose, nature of the survey, study objectives, volunteer participation, declaration of confidentiality, and anonymity. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Cell Line Authentication not detected. Table 2: Resources
Experimental Models: Cell Lines Sentences Resources Measure: A survey instrument was designed based on substantial literature analysis [14–16], material related to emerging respiratory diseases including COVID-19 by WHO [8] and guidelines issued by NIH, Islamabad Pakistan [13]. COVID-19suggested: None… SciScore for 10.1101/2020.06.01.20119404: (What is this?)
Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.
Table 1: Rigor
Institutional Review Board Statement Consent: The study questionnaire contained a consent portion that stated purpose, nature of the survey, study objectives, volunteer participation, declaration of confidentiality, and anonymity. Randomization not detected. Blinding not detected. Power Analysis not detected. Sex as a biological variable not detected. Cell Line Authentication not detected. Table 2: Resources
Experimental Models: Cell Lines Sentences Resources Measure: A survey instrument was designed based on substantial literature analysis [14–16], material related to emerging respiratory diseases including COVID-19 by WHO [8] and guidelines issued by NIH, Islamabad Pakistan [13]. COVID-19suggested: NoneSoftware and Algorithms Sentences Resources Statistical analysis: Data were entered in Microsoft Excel and later imported into SPSS V.21 for statistical analysis. Microsoft Excelsuggested: (Microsoft Excel, RRID:SCR_016137)SPSSsuggested: (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:There are a number of implicit limitations to the study. First, as this is an online survey design, the response depends primarily on honesty and partly on the ability to recall and may, therefore, be subject to bias recall. However, due to a policy of lockdown and social distancing, the survey hand filling was not possible. Second, the sample size is not large enough, and most of the respondents were from one province (Punjab), which limits the generalizability of the population in the whole Pakistan. Potential sample clustering, as the majority (> 60%) of participants were young and students, may also limit the generalizability of the study.
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.
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