Assessment of Perception and Attitude of health care providers regarding COVID-19 Symptoms, Transmission, Progression, and Prevention in the UAE

Background: Health care workers (HCWs), being in the front line dealing with COVID-19 patients, are facing various challenges. Therefore, being aware about COVID-19 is of high importance. The overall aim of this study is to evaluate the HCWs' knowledge and attitude about COVID-19. The objectives of the study are assessment of HCWs' knowledge and attitude about COVID-19 and determining the significant factors that influence their knowledge. Methods and Materials: a descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among convenient sample (n=353) of HCWs in the UAE by using an online self-administrated questionnaire. The data was analyzed using the SPSS version 26. Mann Whitney u test and Kruskal Wallis test were used to test the differences in quantitative variables across groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the association between the knowledge about COVID-19 and significant factors. A p value <0.05 was chosen as the criteria to make decisions regarding statistical significance. Results: A total of (353) HCWs participated in the study and completed the whole questionnaire. The average knowledge score was 76.3% with a 95% confidence interval (CI) [75.2%, 77.5%]. Of the total participants, 122 (34.6%) have poor knowledge, 81 (22.9%) have acceptable knowledge and 150(42.5%) have good knowledge. In the present study, significantly higher knowledge scores were observed in Western participants (OR 2.83; 95% CI 1.51 – 5.29), General practitioners (OR 1.319; 95% CI 1.03 – 1.69), participants working in Dubai (OR 1.47; 95 % CI 1.28– 1.69) and participants who had been in contact with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases (OR 1.235; 95% CI 1.11– 1.37). On the other hand, significantly lower knowledge scores were observed in participants aged 30-39 years (OR 0.760; 95% CI 0.647– 0.893), Arabian participants (OR 0.76; 95 % CI 0.58– 0.98) and participants with less than 1year experience (OR 0.729; 95% CI 0.601– 0.883). Conclusions: This study revealed that HCWs working in the UAE have a good level of general knowledge about COVID-19 symptoms, transmission, progression, and prevention. Questions about deeper knowledge revealed a lower level of knowledge. Therefore, tailored awareness campaigns may be required in order to meet HCWs' needs and enhance their levels of deep knowledge.