Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Rehabilitation Specialists During the Pandemic of Novel Corona Virus

Abstract

Background: Globally, the increased transmission rate of the novel Corona virus has created unprecedented state of emergency especially among the healthcare professionals where only preventive measures can control the current alarming situation. Objective: The aim of our study is to analyze the acquisition of knowledge, attitude and practice among the rehabilitation specialist of Karachi, Pakistan. Method: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted during April to May 2020 using the electronic distribution of self-administered structured questionnaire among rehabilitation specialists across Karachi, Pakistan. The questionnaire comprised of four sections (Demographics, Knowledge, Attitude and Practice). Respondent's demographic details were documented in descriptive whereas Chi-Square and Multinomial Logistic Regression were applied in inferential statistics. Results: A total of 384 rehabilitation specialists were included, Physiotherapists (n=299), Occupational Therapists (n=81), Behavioral Therapists (n=3) and Speech Therapists (n=1) from different districts of Karachi respectively. The good knowledge was observed in 53% (n=205), positive attitude 60.1% (n=231) whereas good practice reported in 71.8% (n=276) towards COVID-19. Furthermore, the total KAP score was significantly predicted by knowledge (p<0.001) and attitude (p=0.01) scores. Conclusions: It was concluded that rehabilitation specialists possessed good knowledge, positive attitude and appropriate practice of preventive measures towards COVID-19. However, the proportion of fair and poor practice can effectively control by following the Centre of Disease Control and Prevention and World Health Organization guidelines to overcome the pandemic.