Asmelash Daniel, Fasil Alebachew, Tegegne Yalewayker, Akalu Temesgen Yihunie, Ferede Habtamu Asfaw, Aynalem Getie Lake
Department of Clinical Chemistry, School of Biomedical and Laboratory Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
Department of Parasitology, School of Biomedical and Laboratory Sciences, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
Risk Manag Healthc Policy. 2020 Oct 20;13:2239-2250. doi: 10.2147/RMHP.S277846. eCollection 2020.
COVID-19 control measures efforts are affected by the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the public, particularly religious clerics and traditional healers, who have close contact and are widely accepted by a significant number of community members.
A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted to determine knowledge, attitudes and practices towards COVID-19 and its associated factors among religious clerics and traditional healers in Gondar town. Study participants who met our inclusion criteria were selected using a simple random sampling technique. Data were collected by trained data collectors through face-to-face interviews. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Knowledge, attitudes and practices scores were calculated to give the overall knowledge, attitude and practice score. Binary logistic regression was fitted to identify associated factors and odds ratio was used to measure the strength of the association.
A total of 410 religious clerics and traditional healers were included in the study with a response rate of 97.1%. Of the total participants, 60.7% (95%: CI (56-65%)) had good knowledge, 34.1% (95%: CI (30-39%)) had a positive attitude and 15.6% (95%: CI (12-19%)) had good practices towards prevention and early detection of COVID-19. Less than one third of the participants practiced physical distancing (28%) and facemask use (17.8%). In multivariate logistic regression, age, educational status and marital status were significantly associated with knowledge score. Likewise, age and marital status were significantly associated with the positive attitude score. In addition, age, educational status, and the presence of underlying disease were significantly associated with the good practice score.
Majority of the participants had poor practice and negative attitudes. Therefore, there should be a sensitization program to fill the gap in the knowledge, attitudes and practice measures of COVID-19 especially for elderly and illiterates.
新冠疫情防控措施的成效受到公众，尤其是宗教神职人员和传统治疗师的知识、态度和行为的影响，他们与大量社区成员有密切接触且被广泛接受。
在贡德尔镇开展了一项基于社区的横断面研究，以确定宗教神职人员和传统治疗师对新冠疫情的知识、态度和行为及其相关因素。采用简单随机抽样技术选取符合纳入标准的研究参与者。由经过培训的数据收集员通过面对面访谈收集数据。使用克朗巴哈系数评估问卷的信度。计算知识、态度和行为得分以得出总体知识、态度和行为得分。采用二元逻辑回归确定相关因素，并使用比值比来衡量关联强度。
共有410名宗教神职人员和传统治疗师纳入研究，应答率为97.1%。在所有参与者中，60.7%（95%置信区间：(56 - 65%)）具备良好知识，34.1%（95%置信区间：(30 - 39%)）态度积极，15.6%（95%置信区间：(12 - 19%)）在新冠疫情预防和早期检测方面行为良好。不到三分之一的参与者践行了社交距离（28%）和佩戴口罩（17.8%）。在多变量逻辑回归中，年龄、教育程度和婚姻状况与知识得分显著相关。同样，年龄和婚姻状况与积极态度得分显著相关。此外，年龄、教育程度和基础疾病的存在与良好行为得分显著相关。
大多数参与者行为不佳且态度消极。因此，应开展宣传项目以填补新冠疫情知识、态度和行为措施方面的差距，尤其是针对老年人和文盲群体。
