Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) about COVID-19 among Indian Population: A Cross-sectional Study

14 Pages Posted: 4 Aug 2020

See all articles by Prachi Agarwal

Prachi Agarwal

Center for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Bushra Imtiyaz

Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College, Srinagar

Raunaq M. S.

Center for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Chahat Jamwal

Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College, Srinagar

Date Written: July 22, 2020

Abstract

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global health emergency. Beliefs and behaviors of a target population about COVID-19 pose unique challenges to effective implementation of healthcare policies in densely populated and socio-geographically diverse nations like India. An online descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among Indian population during the early phase of the COVID19 outbreak in the country to assess their knowledge, attitude and practices about the pandemic. A multinomial logistic regression (Z-test statistics with p<=0.05) was used to analyze the impact of demographic variables on knowledge and to test whether knowledge positively impacts the attitude and practices of an individual. It was found that a higher knowledge score influenced compliance with precautionary behaviors among the participants who were females, educated, and senior citizens. The findings suggest that health education intervention programs targeting males, the working age population and those belonging to lower income groups will be effective.

Keywords: Coronavirus, COVID-19, Cross-sectional study, India, KAP survey, Knowledge, Multinomial Logistic Regression

Suggested Citation

Agarwal, Prachi and Imtiyaz, Bushra and M. S., Raunaq and Jamwal, Chahat, Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) about COVID-19 among Indian Population: A Cross-sectional Study (July 22, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3658195 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3658195

Prachi Agarwal (Contact Author)

Center for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University ( email )

New Delhi
India

Bushra Imtiyaz

Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College, Srinagar ( email )

Srinagar
India

Raunaq M. S.

Center for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University ( email )

New Delhi
India

Chahat Jamwal

Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College, Srinagar ( email )

Srinagar
India

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