Page 109 - IJPS-7-2

International Journal of
Population Studies Knowledge, attitudes, practices, and COVID-19 in Lebanon

4.1. Limitations and strengths practices. Nevertheless, our findings suggested the need

This study has a few limitations. First, it was web-based for health education programs tailored differentially
and employed an online questionnaire to gather data, according to sex, taking into account education, age, and
which explains the high participation rate of young, female, socioeconomic status to raise awareness of COVID-19
single, unemployed, and educated participants. The sample and promote more acceptable attitudes and sustained safe
might not be representative of the entire population as it practices among the general Lebanese population.
was recruited by the snowball technique, which does not Acknowledgments
allow for the generalization of the findings. This non-
random method could also generate a selection bias since The authors would like to thank all those who participated
participants are nominated by people who know them. As in this study by filling up and spreading the web-based
in all KAP studies, a social desirability bias may exist, which online survey.
could lead participants to underreport practices/behaviors
related to the disease. Furthermore, a recall bias cannot be Funding
excluded since the results were self-reported and depended None.
on the participant’s memory. Finally, although our study
provided valuable information on KAP and associated Conflict of interest
factors among the Lebanese population, the validity of the The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
scales should be confirmed in future research, particularly
for the knowledge and attitude scales where the variance Author contributions
explained was less than 60% and since the reliability
analysis was only acceptable. Thus, studies that override the Conceptualization: Pascale Salameh and Diana Malaeb
identified limitations are suggested to confirm our results. Formal analysis: Pascale Salameh, Chadia Haddad, and
Sandrella Bou Malhab
Despite above limitations, our study has several strengths. Supervision: Pascale Salameh
First and the foremost, the questions used to evaluate KAP Writing – original draft: Chadia Haddad, Sandrella Bou
toward COVID-19 were adapted from the previous studies Malhab, Diana Malaeb, Hala Sacre, Danielle Saadeh,
conducted among health practitioners and the general Christine Bou Tayeh, and Pascale Salameh
population and validated in our sample, thus reflecting the Writing – review & editing: Pascale Salameh, Chadia
Lebanese context regarding these concepts; the practice Haddad, Diana Malaeb, and Hala Sacre
scale was particularly shown to have good properties.
Furthermore, our findings would help assess the protective Ethics approval and consent to participate
measures in Lebanon, knowledge, and risk perception
among Lebanese adults and contribute to the national efforts The ethics committee at the Psychiatric Hospital of the
addressed to control the COVID-19 pandemic in Lebanon. Cross approved the study protocol (HPC-038-2020).
Online consent was obtained from all participants on the
4.2. Clinical implications first page of the questionnaire.
This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and Consent for publication
practice during the COVID-19 outbreak. The study has
considerable implications for future actions, such as Not applicable.
improving self-care by increasing COVID-19 prevention Availability of data
and control guidelines. Our results could also serve to
better identify vulnerable groups and target them in future The datasets used and/or analyzed during the present study
public health awareness campaigns. are available from the corresponding author on reasonable
request.
5. Conclusions
This study validated three tools to highlight the knowledge, References
attitudes, and practices among the general population Abdelhafiz, A.S., Mohammed, Z., Ibrahim, M.E., Ziady, H.H.,
during the COVID-19 outbreak in Lebanon. It showed that Alorabi, M., Ayyad, M., et al. (2020). Knowledge,
working in the medical field, education level, and a previous perceptions, and attitude of Egyptians towards the novel
history of COVID-19 were significant factors of KAP toward coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Journal of Community
COVID-19. Furthermore, better knowledge and attitudes Health, 45: 881-890.
toward COVID-19 were associated with better preventive https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-020-00827-7

Volume 7 Issue 2 (2021) 103 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.v7i2.342