Survey of knowledge about care of Covid-19 disease in Hashtrood residents

Abstract

Abstract Introduction: The Covid-19 disease is a viral disease with a high spreading rate and rapid spread to different geographical borders. Prevention is the most effective way to reduce the incidence of this disease at the community level. Awareness is an important factor in achieving the goals of prevention, and it is necessary to identify the gaps in people's knowledge and awareness for effective and planned public education. Limited studies have been conducted in the field of people's awareness of this disease on a certain spectrum in the country. The aim of the present study was to investigate the level of awareness regarding the care of the covid-19 disease in the residents of Hashtroud city.

Methods: After the finalization of the researcher-made questionnaire, based on the results of the pilot study, 300 people completed the questionnaire online using the available sampling method along with the demographic characteristics. Having the age of 18 to 75 years, adequate reading and writing literacy, willingness to participate in the study and access to the internet by the person participating in the research, and the exclusion criteria included non-compliance of the collected data with the inclusion criteria and incompleteness of completed questionnaires.

Findings: In the present study, 157 people (52.3%) were men and 143 (47.7%) were women. The mean age of the participants in the study was 38.29±8.77 years (age range: 18 to 66 years). According to the results of this study, the average score of knowledge about corona disease was higher than average and 88.87±8.68 out of 100. There was a significant difference in people's awareness based on their education level, income level, job and the number of Covid-19 vaccinations.

Conclusion: Despite the acceptable level of people's awareness, due to the difference in the level of awareness among people according to the level of education, occupation and income, special attention is needed in the design of educational programs suitable for the strata of society with low income and education level and unemployment in order to improve the level of awareness. Keywords: Covid-19, awareness, Hashtroud, emerging disease, disease care