Afiong Oku, M. Kooffreh-Ada, E. Adams, Joy N Iya-Benson, Felicia Okon
{"title":"Assessment of health-care workers' knowledge regarding COVID-19 in selected local government areas in cross River State","authors":"Afiong Oku, M. Kooffreh-Ada, E. Adams, Joy N Iya-Benson, Felicia Okon","doi":"10.4103/njm.njm_178_21","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Background: Health-care workers are at the frontline of COVID-19 pandemic response with an increased risk of infection compared to the general population with a significant number losing their lives. It is therefore crucial that HCWs have adequate knowledge about all aspects of the disease to protect themselves and reduce transmission of COVID-19 in populations they serve. Aim: The aim is to determine the level of knowledge of health-care workers (HCWs) regarding COVID-19 in selected local government areas (LGAs) in Cross River State. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study involving a pre- and post-test evaluation was carried out among 47 HCWs in five selected LGAs in Cross River State. A 1-day nonresidential training aimed at improving the knowledge of COVID-19 among HCWs was organized by the Efik Young professionals in collaboration with the State Primary Health Care Development Agency. Data were summarized using proportions and paired t-test to explore associations between quantitative variables. The level of significance was set at P < 0.05. A score of 70 and above represented adequate knowledge. Results: The mean age of participants in the workshop was 36.9 ± 7.23 years. The majority of the respondents were female 38 (80.9%) and health facility heads 20 (42.6%). Before the training, less than a fifth (16.2%) demonstrated adequate knowledge regarding COVID-19 infection. Post-test analysis revealed a marked improvement (83.8%) in the knowledge acquired and this was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Although the training workshop was useful in improving the knowledge of HCWs regarding COVID-19, it is important that these trainings are done periodically to update the HCWs with adequate information particularly frontline HCWs serving in rural areas.","PeriodicalId":52572,"journal":{"name":"Nigerian Journal of Medicine","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2022-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nigerian Journal of Medicine","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.4103/njm.njm_178_21","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Health-care workers are at the frontline of COVID-19 pandemic response with an increased risk of infection compared to the general population with a significant number losing their lives. It is therefore crucial that HCWs have adequate knowledge about all aspects of the disease to protect themselves and reduce transmission of COVID-19 in populations they serve. Aim: The aim is to determine the level of knowledge of health-care workers (HCWs) regarding COVID-19 in selected local government areas (LGAs) in Cross River State. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study involving a pre- and post-test evaluation was carried out among 47 HCWs in five selected LGAs in Cross River State. A 1-day nonresidential training aimed at improving the knowledge of COVID-19 among HCWs was organized by the Efik Young professionals in collaboration with the State Primary Health Care Development Agency. Data were summarized using proportions and paired t-test to explore associations between quantitative variables. The level of significance was set at P < 0.05. A score of 70 and above represented adequate knowledge. Results: The mean age of participants in the workshop was 36.9 ± 7.23 years. The majority of the respondents were female 38 (80.9%) and health facility heads 20 (42.6%). Before the training, less than a fifth (16.2%) demonstrated adequate knowledge regarding COVID-19 infection. Post-test analysis revealed a marked improvement (83.8%) in the knowledge acquired and this was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Although the training workshop was useful in improving the knowledge of HCWs regarding COVID-19, it is important that these trainings are done periodically to update the HCWs with adequate information particularly frontline HCWs serving in rural areas.
期刊介绍:
The Nigerian Journal of Medicine publishes articles on socio-economic, political and legal matters related to medical practice; conference and workshop reports and medical news.