Assessing Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Towards COVID-19 Public Health Preventive Measures Among Patients at Mulago National Referral Hospital
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Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Risk management and healthcare policy
Abstract
COVID-19 has become a major global health challenge, with Uganda reporting
over 20,000 cases. There is, however, a scarcity of data on the perception of patients in
Uganda towards the highly infectious disease. We aimed to assess the awareness, knowledge,
attitudes, and practices towards COVID-19 preventive measures among patients at Mulago
National Referral Hospital (MNRH), Uganda.
Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative survey was conducted in August, 2020, among
patients in surgical and medical wards at MNRH. An interviewer-administered, pre-validated
questionnaire was used to collect data that was entered into Google Forms and analyzed
using Microsoft Excel and STATA 16. Descriptive statistics was used to present data from
univariate analysis. Patients whose knowledge and practice scores were greater or equal to
the average score were regarded to have good knowledge and practices respectively. Chisquare,
Fisher’s Exact tests and binary logistic regression were used to assess factors
associated with COVID-19 knowledge and practices. A P<0.05 was statistically significant.
Results: Overall, 114 patients were approached and 102 consented to participate. Most were
females (53.8%), aged above 45 years (31.4%) with 40.2% reporting primary level as the
highest level of education. About 55.9% (n=57) had adequate knowledge for COVID-19 and
its related practices, and 52% (n=53) had good COVID-19 related practices. Knowledge
significantly differed by marital status at bivariate analysis (P=0.020), however this lost
significance at logistic regression. Female patients were thrice more likely to have good
COVID-19 prevention practices compared to males (COR: 2.59, 95% CI: 1.2 to 5.8,
P=0.020). Some 47 (46.1%) participants perceived that COVID-19 preventive measures
were not difficult at all to observe.
Conclusion: About half of the patients at Mulago National Referral Hospital lack adequate
knowledge and practice on COVID-19 prevention. Continued patient education is required to
increase knowledge which will in turn improve adherence to COVID-19 preventive
practices.
Description
Keywords
COVID-19, Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices, Patients
Citation
Twinamasiko, N., Olum, R., Gwokyalya, A. M., Nakityo, I., Wasswa, E., & Sserunjogi, E. (2021). Assessing Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Towards COVID-19 Public Health Preventive Measures Among Patients at Mulago National Referral Hospital. Risk management and healthcare policy, 14, 221. http://doi.org/10.2147/RMHP.S287379