Objective: The adherence to public health recommendations to control COVID-19 spread is influenced by public knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP). We performed this cross-sectional study to assess the levels and determinants of public KAP towards COVID-19 in a large, multinational sample.
Design: Cross-sectional study (survey).
Setting: The questionnaire was distributed to potential respondents via online platforms.
Participants: 71 890 individuals from 22 countries.
Methods: We formulated a four-section questionnaire in English, followed by validation and translation into seven languages. The questionnaire was distributed (May to June 2020) and each participant received a score for each KAP section.
Results: Overall, the participants had fair knowledge (mean score: 19.24±3.59) and attitudes (3.72±2.31) and good practices (12.12±1.83) regarding COVID-19. About 92% reported moderate to high compliance with national lockdown. However, significant gaps were observed: only 68.2% knew that infected individuals may be asymptomatic; 45.4% believed that antibiotics are an effective treatment; and 55.4% stated that a vaccine has been developed (at the time of data collection). 71.9% believed or were uncertain that COVID-19 is a global conspiracy; 36.8% and 51% were afraid of contacting doctors and Chinese people, respectively. Further, 66.4% reported the pandemic had moderate to high negative effects on their mental health. Female gender, higher education and urban residents had significantly (p≤0.001) higher knowledge and practice scores. Further, we observed significant correlations between all KAP scores.
Conclusions: Although the public have fair/good knowledge and practices regarding COVID-19, significant gaps should be addressed. Future awareness efforts should target less advantaged groups and future studies should develop new strategies to tackle COVID-19 negative mental health effects.
Keywords: epidemiology; public health; virology.
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