COVID-19 Pandemic Awareness, Attitudes, and Practices Among the Pakistani General Public

Background: Outbreak of COVID-19, in many countries, has imposed a lockdown on their residents. The usefulness of extenuative actions is extremely reliant on society's knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) toward pandemic control.Objective: This study aimed to explore the awareness, attitud...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rehana Rehman, Shireen Jawed, Rabiya Ali, Khola Noreen, Mukhtiar Baig, Javaria Baig
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-06-01
Series:Frontiers in Public Health
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.588537/full
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Summary:Background: Outbreak of COVID-19, in many countries, has imposed a lockdown on their residents. The usefulness of extenuative actions is extremely reliant on society's knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) toward pandemic control.Objective: This study aimed to explore the awareness, attitudes, and practices of the general Pakistani population to COVID-19.Methods: From June 13, 2020, until June 30, 2020, a cross-sectional online KAP survey was conducted among the Pakistani public. For data collection, a validated self-administered questionnaire was used. The survey instrument consisted of six demographic characteristics, 14 items on knowledge, four on attitudes, and six items on practices, modified from a previously published questionnaire on COVID-19.Results: The present study included 2,307 participants, 58.3% males and 41.7% of females. The majority (86.7%) sought information from social media (SM) and television, 95% had good practices, 89.9% had positive attitudes, and two-thirds (67.4%) of the respondents had adequate knowledge. The students and people from younger age groups had more positive attitudes compared with others. Highly educated w with other groups (p < 0.001). In logistic regression analysis, the odds ratio indicated that the private job was negatively associated, and high monthly income was positively associated with adequate knowledge (OR = 0.595). Old age was the predictor of negative attitude, and high school degrees and master's degrees were associated with good practice scores.Conclusion: The Pakistani general population has an overall positive attitude and proactive practices against COVID-19, but their knowledge is inadequate. The most important source of information was SM, followed by television. These are playing a crucial role in educating the Pakistani public.
ISSN:2296-2565