article · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
A cross-sectional survey evaluated COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and practices among 657 healthcare workers across three hospitals in Uganda between September and November 2020. The evaluation revealed that while 83.9% of participants possessed sufficient knowledge and 78.4% held a positive attitude towards COVID-19, only 37.0% demonstrated good practices. Sufficient knowledge was significantly higher among clinical staff and those with prior involvement in health research. Clinical healthcare workers were also notably more likely to follow good practices compared to non-clinical staff, whereas workers over 35 years of age were less likely to hold positive attitudes. These findings show a distinct gap between high awareness and actual practice, indicating that differences between clinical and non-clinical personnel may impact the uptake of healthcare interventions, including vaccination programmes.
Healthcare workers face substantial risks during epidemics, making their day-to-day protective behaviour critical for infection control. The study reveals that strong knowledge does not automatically translate into safe practices within health facilities. Recognising disparities between clinical and non-clinical personnel helps health authorities design more targeted workplace safety measures and improve the delivery of key interventions such as vaccination.
The abstract does not describe a commercial product or technical invention, but provides applied behavioural evidence. These findings could inform the design of specialised hospital training programmes and occupational health compliance tools by public health agencies or healthcare management organisations. As an observational survey, the work sits at an applied evidence stage rather than representing a commercialisation pathway.
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Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at high risk of COVID-19. However, data on HCWs' knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) toward COVID-19 are limited. Between September and November 2020, we conducted a questionnaire-based COVID-19 KAP survey among HCWs at three hospitals in Uganda. We used Bloom's cut-off of ≥80% to determine sufficient knowledge, good attitude, and good practice, and multivariate Poisson regression with robust variance for statistical analysis. Of 717 HCWs invited to participate, 657 (91.6%) agreed and were enrolled. The mean age (standard deviation) of enrollees was 33.2 (10.2) years; most were clinical HCWs (64.7%) and had advanced secondary school/other higher-level education (57.8%). Overall, 83.9% had sufficient knowledge, 78.4% had a positive attitude, and 37.0% had good practices toward COVID-19. Factors associated with KAP were: Knowledge: being a clinical HCW (aRR: 1.12; 95% CI: 1.02-1.23) and previous participation in health research (aRR: 1.10; 95% CI: 1.04-1.17); Attitude: age > 35 years (aRR: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.79-0.98); Practice: being a clinical HCW (aRR: 1.91; 95% CI: 1.41-2.59). HCWs in Uganda have good knowledge and positive attitude but poor practices towards COVID-19. Differences in COVID-19 KAP between clinical and non-clinical HCWs could affect uptake of COVID-19 interventions including vaccination.
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DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18137004
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