Knowledge, Attitude, Practices and Risk of Psychological Distress among Frontline Healthcare Workers Towards COVID-19 in Second Wave
Published: September 1, 2022 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.7860/JCDR/2022/58156.16880
Ram Milan Prasot, Malik Faizan Ahmad, Anand Bihari, Ankit Srivastava, Madhu Khan
1. Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Chakrapanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India.
2. Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Chakrapanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India.
3. Statistician Cum Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Chakrapanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India.
4. Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, Government Medical College, Chakrapanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India.
5. Nursing Staff, Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Chakrapanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Correspondence
Dr. Anand Bihari,
Statistician Cum Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine,
Government Medical College, Chakrapanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India.
E-mail: anandbhu05@gmail.com
Introduction: Frontline Healthcare Workers (F-HCWs) are at the front position for medical care against Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic which has life-threatening potentials. Poor level of knowledge, practices and negative attitudes as well as high-risk of psychological distress among F-HCWs can directly lead to delayed diagnosis, treatment and poor infection control practices.
Aim: To assess the level of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) as well as risk of psychological distress among F-HCWs for COVID-19 pandemic.
Materials and Methods: This descriptive, hospital-based, cross-sectional study was conducted at Government Medical College, Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, located in tertiary care centre in rural area) from October 2021 to December 2021 among 223 F-HCWs using convenient sampling technique. To assess the level of KAP as well as risk of psychological distress among F-HCWs a prevalidated structured questionnaire was used consisting 15 knowledge questions, six attitude questions, 15 practices questions and six questions on risk of psychological distress. Chi-square test was performed to examine the association between risk of psychological distress and level of KAP as well as with demographic characteristics of F-HCWs.
Results: Out of total 223 participants more than half of physicians (52.9%) and one-third of staff nurses (35.9%) were from age group of 25-35 years, respectively. Majority of both physicians (57.1%) and staff nurses (87.6%) were married and had nuclear type of family as of 64.3% and 74.5%, respectively. Most of the physicians (92.9%) had good level of knowledge but they had less positive attitude (84.3%) compare to staff nurses (92.8%). Majority of both physicians (64.3%) and staff nurses (58.2%) had no or low risk of psychological distress while only few of them had its high level.
Conclusion: In this study majority of F-HCWs reported overall ‘good’ level of knowledge, attitude and practices for prevention of COVID-19. As for as risk of psychological distress was concerned, majority of F-HCWs had its no or low risk.
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