Knowledge and Anxiety about COVID-19 in the State of Qatar, and the Middle East and North Africa Region—A Cross Sectional Study

<div><p>While the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic wreaked havoc across the globe, we have witnessed substantial mis- and disinformation regarding various aspects of the disease. We conducted a cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire for the general publ...

وصف كامل

محفوظ في:
التفاصيل البيبلوغرافية
المؤلف الرئيسي: Sathyanarayanan Doraiswamy (4091776) (author)
مؤلفون آخرون: Sohaila Cheema (4162534) (author), Patrick Maisonneuve (479793) (author), Amit Abraham (5534822) (author), Ingmar Weber (149886) (author), Jisun An (10230800) (author), Albert B. Lowenfels (9934156) (author), Ravinder Mamtani (4162537) (author)
منشور في: 2021
الموضوعات:
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author Sathyanarayanan Doraiswamy (4091776)
author2 Sohaila Cheema (4162534)
Patrick Maisonneuve (479793)
Amit Abraham (5534822)
Ingmar Weber (149886)
Jisun An (10230800)
Albert B. Lowenfels (9934156)
Ravinder Mamtani (4162537)
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author_facet Sathyanarayanan Doraiswamy (4091776)
Sohaila Cheema (4162534)
Patrick Maisonneuve (479793)
Amit Abraham (5534822)
Ingmar Weber (149886)
Jisun An (10230800)
Albert B. Lowenfels (9934156)
Ravinder Mamtani (4162537)
author_role author
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Sathyanarayanan Doraiswamy (4091776)
Sohaila Cheema (4162534)
Patrick Maisonneuve (479793)
Amit Abraham (5534822)
Ingmar Weber (149886)
Jisun An (10230800)
Albert B. Lowenfels (9934156)
Ravinder Mamtani (4162537)
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2021-06-14T03:00:00Z
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv 10.3390/ijerph18126439
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Knowledge_and_Anxiety_about_COVID-19_in_the_State_of_Qatar_and_the_Middle_East_and_North_Africa_Region_A_Cross_Sectional_Study/25756254
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv CC BY 4.0
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Health sciences
Epidemiology
Public health
COVID-19
health information
misinformation
anxiety
knowledge
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Knowledge and Anxiety about COVID-19 in the State of Qatar, and the Middle East and North Africa Region—A Cross Sectional Study
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv Text
Journal contribution
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
text
contribution to journal
description <div><p>While the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic wreaked havoc across the globe, we have witnessed substantial mis- and disinformation regarding various aspects of the disease. We conducted a cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire for the general public (recruited via social media) and healthcare workers (recruited via email) from the State of Qatar, and the Middle East and North Africa region to understand the knowledge of and anxiety levels around COVID-19 (April–June 2020) during the early stage of the pandemic. The final dataset used for the analysis comprised of 1658 questionnaires (53.0% of 3129 received questionnaires; 1337 [80.6%] from the general public survey and 321 [19.4%] from the healthcare survey). Knowledge about COVID-19 was significantly different across the two survey populations, with a much higher proportion of healthcare workers possessing better COVID-19 knowledge than the general public (62.9% vs. 30.0%, p < 0.0001). A reverse effect was observed for anxiety, with a higher proportion of very anxious (or really frightened) respondents among the general public compared to healthcare workers (27.5% vs. 11.5%, p < 0.0001). A higher proportion of the general public tended to overestimate their chance of dying if they become ill with COVID-19, with 251 (18.7%) reporting the chance of dying (once COVID-19 positive) to be ≥25% versus 19 (5.9%) of healthcare workers (p < 0.0001). Good knowledge about COVID-19 was associated with low levels of anxiety. Panic and unfounded anxiety, as well as casual and carefree attitudes, can propel risk taking and mistake-making, thereby increasing vulnerability. It is important that governments, public health agencies, healthcare workers, and civil society organizations keep themselves updated regarding scientific developments and that they relay messages to the community in an honest, transparent, unbiased, and timely manner.</p><p> </p></div><h2>Other Information</h2> <p> Published in: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health<br> License: <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</a><br>See article on publisher's website: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126439" target="_blank">https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126439</a></p>
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
id Manara2_5d7530fada7484de29ea7a4bc169837a
identifier_str_mv 10.3390/ijerph18126439
network_acronym_str Manara2
network_name_str Manara2
oai_identifier_str oai:figshare.com:article/25756254
publishDate 2021
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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rights_invalid_str_mv CC BY 4.0
spelling Knowledge and Anxiety about COVID-19 in the State of Qatar, and the Middle East and North Africa Region—A Cross Sectional StudySathyanarayanan Doraiswamy (4091776)Sohaila Cheema (4162534)Patrick Maisonneuve (479793)Amit Abraham (5534822)Ingmar Weber (149886)Jisun An (10230800)Albert B. Lowenfels (9934156)Ravinder Mamtani (4162537)Health sciencesEpidemiologyPublic healthCOVID-19health informationmisinformationanxietyknowledge<div><p>While the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic wreaked havoc across the globe, we have witnessed substantial mis- and disinformation regarding various aspects of the disease. We conducted a cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire for the general public (recruited via social media) and healthcare workers (recruited via email) from the State of Qatar, and the Middle East and North Africa region to understand the knowledge of and anxiety levels around COVID-19 (April–June 2020) during the early stage of the pandemic. The final dataset used for the analysis comprised of 1658 questionnaires (53.0% of 3129 received questionnaires; 1337 [80.6%] from the general public survey and 321 [19.4%] from the healthcare survey). Knowledge about COVID-19 was significantly different across the two survey populations, with a much higher proportion of healthcare workers possessing better COVID-19 knowledge than the general public (62.9% vs. 30.0%, p < 0.0001). A reverse effect was observed for anxiety, with a higher proportion of very anxious (or really frightened) respondents among the general public compared to healthcare workers (27.5% vs. 11.5%, p < 0.0001). A higher proportion of the general public tended to overestimate their chance of dying if they become ill with COVID-19, with 251 (18.7%) reporting the chance of dying (once COVID-19 positive) to be ≥25% versus 19 (5.9%) of healthcare workers (p < 0.0001). Good knowledge about COVID-19 was associated with low levels of anxiety. Panic and unfounded anxiety, as well as casual and carefree attitudes, can propel risk taking and mistake-making, thereby increasing vulnerability. It is important that governments, public health agencies, healthcare workers, and civil society organizations keep themselves updated regarding scientific developments and that they relay messages to the community in an honest, transparent, unbiased, and timely manner.</p><p> </p></div><h2>Other Information</h2> <p> Published in: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health<br> License: <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" target="_blank">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</a><br>See article on publisher's website: <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126439" target="_blank">https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126439</a></p>2021-06-14T03:00:00ZTextJournal contributioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersiontextcontribution to journal10.3390/ijerph18126439https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Knowledge_and_Anxiety_about_COVID-19_in_the_State_of_Qatar_and_the_Middle_East_and_North_Africa_Region_A_Cross_Sectional_Study/25756254CC BY 4.0info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:figshare.com:article/257562542021-06-14T03:00:00Z
spellingShingle Knowledge and Anxiety about COVID-19 in the State of Qatar, and the Middle East and North Africa Region—A Cross Sectional Study
Sathyanarayanan Doraiswamy (4091776)
Health sciences
Epidemiology
Public health
COVID-19
health information
misinformation
anxiety
knowledge
status_str publishedVersion
title Knowledge and Anxiety about COVID-19 in the State of Qatar, and the Middle East and North Africa Region—A Cross Sectional Study
title_full Knowledge and Anxiety about COVID-19 in the State of Qatar, and the Middle East and North Africa Region—A Cross Sectional Study
title_fullStr Knowledge and Anxiety about COVID-19 in the State of Qatar, and the Middle East and North Africa Region—A Cross Sectional Study
title_full_unstemmed Knowledge and Anxiety about COVID-19 in the State of Qatar, and the Middle East and North Africa Region—A Cross Sectional Study
title_short Knowledge and Anxiety about COVID-19 in the State of Qatar, and the Middle East and North Africa Region—A Cross Sectional Study
title_sort Knowledge and Anxiety about COVID-19 in the State of Qatar, and the Middle East and North Africa Region—A Cross Sectional Study
topic Health sciences
Epidemiology
Public health
COVID-19
health information
misinformation
anxiety
knowledge