article · PLoS ONE
An online cross-sectional survey evaluated COVID-19 knowledge and preventive practices among 909 residents of Mosul, Iraq, during the rapid increase of the pandemic between June and July 2020. The evaluation measured socio-demographic characteristics alongside participants' understanding and preventive behaviours. Overall, respondents demonstrated high levels of awareness and adherence to health guidelines, recording cumulative scores of 86 percent for knowledge and 76 percent for preventive practices. Statistical analysis revealed that age, marital status, gender, educational attainment, and employment status were significantly associated with both knowledge and practice scores. However, lower levels of understanding and preventive measures were observed among younger individuals, males, participants with lower levels of education, and unemployed respondents. These findings highlight the need for targeted public health communication campaigns designed to reach demographic groups with lower adherence, thereby improving protective behaviours across the wider community.
Understanding how pandemic awareness and protective behaviours vary across demographic groups is vital for effective disease management. Identifying segments of the public with lower adherence, such as younger or unemployed individuals, enables public health authorities to tailor their communication strategies directly. Targeted outreach helps ensure that essential guidance reaches populations most in need, thereby strengthening overall community protection against infectious disease outbreaks.
The abstract does not indicate an application pathway for commercial products, but the findings offer applied evidence ready for immediate use by public health authorities, municipal agencies, and communication specialists designing targeted behavioural intervention campaigns.
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Since the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a worldwide pandemic, many countries' authorities, including the Iraqi authorities, started responding and taking action to control the spread of the pandemic. The public's knowledge and practices play an important role in curbing the spreading of the virus by following the health guidelines. This study aimed to assess the socio-demographic correlate of knowledge and practices of Iraqi living in Mosul-Iraq towards COVID-19 during its rapid rise. A cross-sectional online survey of 909 participants was conducted among a sample of the Mosul-Iraq population between 20th June to 1st July 2020. The survey included three parts: 1) socio-demographic characteristics, 2) participants' knowledge, 3) participants' practices. T-test, ANOVA, chi-square, and binary logistic regression were used. A p-value less than 0.05 (p < 0.05) was considered statistically significant. The results showed a knowledge and practice mean score of (12.91±1.67) and (21.56± 2.92) with cumulative knowledge and practice of 86% and 76% respectively towards COVID-19. Socio-demographic characteristics such as age, marital status, gender, level of education and employment were statistically related with a higher mean score of knowledge and practice towards the virus as P<0.05. We concluded that the majority of the respondents demonstrate a high level of knowledge and practices towards COVID-19 except for respondents with socio-demographic characteristics such as those who were younger, male respondents, those with lower education and those unemployed as such campaigns that will increase the knowledge and encourage adequate preventive practice towards COVID-19 should be targeted towards this group.
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DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249310
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