Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Regarding COVID-19 among Community Health Nurses

Abstract

Background: Corona Virus Disease 2019 also known as COVID-19 is a rapidly expanding pandemic
caused by a novel human Corona Virus (SARS-COV-2). This is posing a threat at global level and needs
an urgent intervention and control measures. The community health nurses are front line warriors in
providing primary health care. The knowledge and attitude greatly influences the behaviour pattern of
people, therefore this descriptive cross-sectional study assessed the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice
regarding COVID-19 among Community Health Nurses at College of Nursing, Christian Medical
College, Vellore, India.
Methods: Using total enumeration sampling method, a structured self-administered questionnaire
was given to all the Community Health Nurses and data were obtained. The questionnaire assesses
the demographic and personal profile of participants, Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice regarding
COVID-19, which is developed by the investigator using the WHO module on “Emerging respiratory
viruses, including COVID-19, methods for detection, prevention, response and control” and CDC –
Corona Virus Disease 2019 modules.
Conclusion: This study reveals that 10.8% among the community health nurses had adequate
knowledge regarding COVID-19, 44.2% had favourable attitude towards COVID-19 and 98.3% had
adequate practices related to prevention of COVID-19. There was a significant correlation found
between Knowledge and Practice (p= 0.002), Attitude and Practice (p= 0.001) of the Community
Health Nurses which was statistically significant. There were significant association found between the
demographic variables such as qualification (p=0.020) and the level of knowledge, education (p=0.015)
and knowledge and years of experience of the community health nurses (p=0.009) and their attitude.