Risk Perceptions, Attitude and Preventive Practices toward COVID-19 During the First Wave, Egypt

Hassan, Nadira Mansour; Shalaby, Safynaz El Saied; EL-Feky, Asmaa Ali; Younis, Eman Ali; Atalla, Asmaa Omar

doi:10.21608/ejnsr.2022.212146

Risk Perceptions, Attitude and Preventive Practices toward COVID-19 During the First Wave, Egypt

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Public Health and Community Medicine department, Faculty of Medicine , Tanta University

² Tanta University. Faculty of Medicine

³ Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt

⁴ Public Health and Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University,

10.21608/ejnsr.2022.212146

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 disease is the latest emerging global pandemic. Applying preventive measures to contain this crisis are the most critical intervention. Since, perceived risk and attitude of populations determine their reaction to any problem. Aim: The current study aimed at determining risk perceptions, attitude and practices among a sample of Egyptian population during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The study was cross-sectional using a nonrandom sample from Egyptian population. The participants were asked to fulfill a predesigned online questionnaire that was available on Google format from 16th to 24th March 2020. Results: The study included 1663participants. More than half of them were at age group 21-30 years, 64.3% were females and 85.1% were students. Social media was the main source of their information. Most of participants had positive attitude and moderate degree of fear. Vast majority of the participants believed that they are susceptible to infection and 61% of them believed in seriousness of the disease. Less than one quarter (23.5%) of participants had acceptable practice level. The majority of the participants were believed in effectiveness of preventive precautions in varying degrees. Binary logistic regression identified that significant predictors of unacceptable practice level were male sex, not believing in susceptibility, seriousness of the disease, and effectiveness of preventive precautions. Conclusion: Obligatory wearing of masks was an important governmental necessary step. Recommendations: Risk perceptions and effective attitudes are essential factors for good adherence to preventive practices and control of COVID-19 crisis.

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