Knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to Coronavirus disease 2019 during the outbreak among workers in China: A large cross-sectional study

• Published in: PLoS neglected tropical diseases 2020-09, Vol.14 (9), p.e0008584-e0008584
• Main Authors: Li, Zhi-Hao, Zhang, Xi-Ru, Zhong, Wen-Fang, Song, Wei-Qi, Wang, Zheng-He, Chen, Qing, Liu, Dan, Huang, Qing-Mei, Shen, Dong, Chen, Pei-Liang, Mao, Ang, Zhang, Duo, Yang, Xingfen, Wu, Xian-Bo, Mao, Chen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Attitudes; Betacoronavirus; Biology and Life Sciences; China; Computer and Information Sciences; Coronavirus Infections - pathology; Coronavirus Infections - prevention & control; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Cross-Sectional Studies; Disease prevention; Disease transmission; Ebola virus; Engineering and Technology; Epidemics; Epidemiology; Female; Food safety; Health attitudes; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health literacy; Health promotion; Humans; Infectious diseases; Knowledge; Labour; Levels; Male; Manufacturing and Industrial Facilities; Medical research; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Outbreaks; Pandemics - prevention & control; Pneumonia, Viral - pathology; Pneumonia, Viral - prevention & control; Public health; Questionnaires; Research and Analysis Methods; Response rates; Saline water; Salt water; SARS-CoV-2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Social Sciences; Sociodemographics; Software; Supervision; Surveying; Surveys; Surveys and Questionnaires; Tropical diseases; Vaccines; Viral diseases; Workers
• ISSN: 1935-2735; 1935-2727; 1935-2735
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0008584

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has recently emerged as a global threat. Understanding workers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding this new infectious disease is crucial to preventing and controlling it. This study aimed to assess KAP regarding COVID-19 during the outbreak among workers in China. The present study was part of a cross-sectional online survey study conducted based on a large labor-intensive factory, which has 180,000 workers from various Chinese provinces, from 2 February 2020 to 7 February 2020. KAP related to COVID-19 were measured by 32 items, each item was measured with an agree/disagree/unclear format, and only correct responses were given 1 point. KAP regarding COVID-19 were measured with 20 items, 6 items and 6 items, respectively. A total of 123,768 valid responses (68.8%) were included in the analysis. Generally, the levels of knowledge (mean: 16.3 out of 20 points), attitudes (mean: 4.5 out of 6 points), and practices (mean: 5.8 out of 6 points) related to COVID-19 were high. Only 36,373 respondents (29.4%) disagreed that gargling with salt water is effective in protecting against COVID-19. Moreover, older respondents had decreased levels of knowledge and practices related to COVID-19 (both P values for the trend