Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Staff and Students at Sulaimani Polytechnic University towards COVID-19/Iraq

Abstract

COVID-19 is a highly infectious and pathogenic viral disease, its become a global pandemic infection,
which is an airborne disease; transmits directly and indirectly between infected cases and other people.
Until now, there has been neither vaccine nor specific antivirus medicine against this disease, the only
method to prevent the spread of the virus is a preventive practice against the disease, it depends on the
knowledge and attitudes of people towards the disease. The online cross-sectional study was undertaken
during the pandemic, to estimate Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices towards COVID-19 among a sample
of staff and students at Sulaimani Polytechnic University. Data of 270 adult individuals were collected
during June 2020 and analyzed. The male/female ratio was 1:88. The mean scores of knowledge, attitudes,
and preventive practices of the participants were 7.4 (SD 1.68), 5.5 (SD 1.15), and 6.7 (SD 2.1) respectively.
The results reported significant differences between respondents’ knowledge mean score and their gender,
and educational background (P=0.005 and P=0.003 respectively). The attitudes mean score of the staff
was significantly greater than the attitudes mean score of the students (P=0.021). Likewise, the attitudes
mean score was significantly greater in medical subjects compared to non-medical individuals (P<0.001).
The respondents with age group ?45 had a significantly higher preventive practice compared to the other
age groups (P<0.001). Similarly, the practices mean score was significantly greater in the staff compared
to the students (P< 0.001). The vast majority of the participants (88.5%) used social media for obtaining
knowledge and advice on the disease. The study indicates that the respondents had sufficient knowledge,
positive attitudes, and good practice toward COVID-19.