Knowledge, Attitudes, Risk Perceptions, and Practices of Spanish Adolescents Toward the COVID-19 Pandemic: Validation and Results of the Spanish Version of the Questionnaire

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected young people?-Mapping knowledge structure and research framework by scientometric analysis

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, there has been a large body of literature focusing on the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and young people. The purpose of this study is to explore the current research status and the specific mechanism of COVID-19's effects on young people based on related literature. This paper mainly used VOS viewer and CiteSpace software to conduct a scientometric analysis of 5,077 publications retrieved from the Web of Science database. The results show that the main contributors to the field were mainly from North America and Europe, and the trend of research focus was from shallow to deep. The five main research areas in the field were summarized by keyword clustering analysis as follows: lifestyle changes due to lockdown; changes in stress and emotions; psychological illness and trauma; risk perception and practice toward the epidemic; interventions and social support. Finally, they were linked by four pathways to form a framework that integrates the relationships between the five domains and between elements within each of them, revealing the mechanism of COVID-19's effect on young people. In addition, less studied but promising elements are also presented in the framework, such as research on special groups (disadvantaged socioeconomic groups and sexual minority youth) and extreme suicidal tendencies that deserve our further attention.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward COVID-19: A cross-sectional study during normal management of the epidemic in China

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic is striking the world with serious public health and economic losses. Complying with precautionary measures is affected by knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) toward COVID-19 among the general public, so it is urgent to know the public's awareness of COVID-19 as to promote the epidemic management of COVID-19 in China.

Methods

An online sample of Chinese residents was recruited. We administered a self-developed online KAP survey comprising 39 questions regarding awareness of COVID-19, transmission mode, symptoms, preventive measures, and respondents' attitudes and practices with respect to COVID-19. The total score of each item (knowledge, attitudes, and practices) adopts the ten points system, score of KAP is 30 points. Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, and binomial logistic regression were used in the statistical analysis.

Results

Among respondents, average scores for COVID-19-related knowledge, attitudes, and practice were 8.94 ± 0.79, 5.97 ± 1.58, and 7.03 ± 3.14, respectively. 91.2% were aware that COVID-19 is an acute viral infection and 99.95% knew that wearing a mask is one way to prevent COVID-19 infection. Participants correctly identified the symptoms of COVID-19 with a high accuracy rate of over 85%.

Conclusion

Many adults in the present study had adequate knowledge, a positive attitude and engaged in correct practices against COVID-19. People in China have a high awareness of epidemic prevention and control. However, conducting KAP surveys among people with different demographic characteristics at different stages of the epidemic is important to improve public health education and implement proper COVID-19 prevention and control measures.

Associations between Psychological Variables, Knowledge, Attitudes, Risk Perceptions and Health Behaviours towards COVID-19 among Adolescents

There is currently little scientific evidence available that allows us to understand patterns of knowledge, risk perception, attitudes, and behaviours among adolescents in relation to COVID-19. This study aims to analyse the relationship between knowledge about COVID-19, risk perception, and psychological variables and the adherence to preventive measures among the adolescent population. It is a descriptive cross-sectional study, which included adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 (n = 354). The questionnaire was sent to several secondary schools chosen by convenience sampling and following a non-probabilistic snowball sampling. Descriptive, univariate, and multivariate analyses were carried out in order to determine whether knowledge about COVID-19, risk perception, tolerance of frustration, planning and decision-making, family functionality, self-efficacy, self-esteem, and social skills are related to preventive measures. The adoption among adolescents of behaviours which protect them against COVID-19 depends on knowledge about the disease, the perception of the risk it poses to them, as well as their tolerance of frustration and planning and decision-making abilities. The relationship between the individual variables among adolescents with the adoption of behaviours which protect them against COVID-19 has been confirmed. The development of intervention and communication strategies that take the psychosocial situation of adolescents into account will help to increase the adoption of protective health behaviours in the context of a pandemic.

Knowledge, Attitude, Practices, and Vaccine Hesitancy Among the Latinx Community in Southern California Early in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-sectional Survey

Background

The Latinx population in the United States has experienced high rates of infection, hospitalization, and death since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is little data on the knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) specifically in Latinx communities in the United States.

Objective

We aimed to assess COVID-19 KAP and vaccine hesitancy among a Latinx cohort in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic (from July 2020 to October 2020), at a unique time when a vaccine was not available. 

Methods

Participants aged ≥18 years were recruited at a primary care clinic in Southern California and asked to self-report sociodemographic characteristics, KAP, and vaccine hesitancy. A subset of the participants answered the vaccine hesitancy assessment as it was added after the start of data collection. KAP items were summed to create composite scores, with higher scores reflecting increased COVID-19 knowledge, positive attitudes toward the COVID-19 pandemic, and disease prevention practices. Bivariate and multivariable regression models were fitted to test associations between sociodemographic characteristics and KAP scores. For our analysis, we only included patients who self-identified as Latinx.

Results

Our final data set included 265 participants. The participants had a mean age of 49 (IQR 38.5-59) years, and 72.1% (n=191) were female, 77% (n=204) had at most a high school degree, 34.7% (n=92) had an annual income <US $25,000, and 11.7% (n=31) had previously tested positive for COVID-19. We found high knowledge regarding transmission and spread; moderate knowledge regarding symptoms awareness; overall negative attitudes, which included high pessimism in government public health efforts and high amounts of fear, anxiety, and frustration due to COVID-19 pandemic; and moderate participation in preventive practices. A college education was positively associated with a higher knowledge score than those without a college education (β=0.14, 95% CI 0.01-1.60; P=.04) when adjusted for covariates. Male gender had a positive association with COVID-19 attitude scores compared to female gender (β=1.61, 95% CI 0.50-2.72; P=.05), and male gender was negatively associated with the COVID-19 practices score compared to female gender (β=–0.16, 95% CI –0.56 to –0.06; P=.03), when both were adjusted for covariates. Among a subset of 203 patients, 26.6% (n=54) indicated that if the vaccine was available, they would not take a COVID-19 vaccine, and 18.7% (n=38) were unsure.

Conclusions

Good knowledge and preventative practices in the population may have reflected effective public health messaging and the implementation of public health laws during the first wave of the pandemic; however, the overall fear and anxiety may have reflected the negative impact that the pandemic had on vulnerable populations such as the Latinx community. Although our data are a reflection of a previous time in the pandemic, we believe it captures a critical time that can be used to provide unique insights regarding potential avenues to better protect the Latinx communities against future vaccine-resistant COVID-19 strains.

International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)

RR2-10.2196/25265

Knowledge about COVID-19 Best Practices in the North of Portugal and the Importance of Health Education in the Prevention of Pandemic Events

The rapid global spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has made COVID-19 one of the biggest pandemics of all time, with several devastating public health challenges. In this study, we investigated the knowledge towards COVID-19 best practices in the north of Portugal. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed with a convenience sample of the population of northern Portugal to assess their knowledge about COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2 and measures to prevent and mitigate pandemics. An online validated questionnaire was completed by 411 participants, from September to October 2020. Results: The overall correct knowledge was 81.3%, which indicates a good knowledge by the northern Portuguese respondents about COVID-19. The correct answer score differed considerably between men and women, being significantly higher among the latter (12.28 ± 1.22; p = 0.011). Moreover, the highest knowledge was observed in participants who attended high school or above (12.27 ± 1.21; p < 0.000). Conclusion: This study contributes to the analysis of COVID-19 knowledge by the northern Portuguese population, emphasizes the crucial role of health education in the control and mitigation of the COVID-19 pandemic, and provides field-based evidence to prevent the next pandemic event.