Page 99 - IJPS-7-2

International Journal of

Population Studies

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Factors associated with knowledge, attitudes,

and practices of the general Lebanese
population toward the coronavirus disease 2019

1
Chadia Haddad 1,2,3,4 *, Sandrella Bou Malhab 1,5,6 , Diana Malaeb 1,6,7 , Hala Sacre ,
1,8
Danielle Saadeh , Christine Bou Tayeh , and Pascale Salameh 1,2,9,10
1
1 Institut National de Santé Publique, d’Épidémiologie Clinique et de Toxicologie-Liban (INSPECT-LB),
Beirut, Lebanon
2 School of Medicine, Lebanese American University, Lebanon
3 School of Health Sciences, Modern University for Business and Science, Beirut, Lebanon
4 Research Department, Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross, Jal Eddib, Lebanon
5 Faculté de santé, Université Sainte Famille, Batroun, Lebanon
6 School of Pharmacy, Lebanese International University, Beirut, Lebanon
7 College of Pharmacy, Gulf Medical University, Ajman, United Arab Emirates
8 Faculty of Public Health, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon
9 Faculty of Pharmacy, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon
10 Department of Primary Care and Population Health, University of Nicosia Medical School, 2417,
Nicosia, Cyprus

*Corresponding author:
Chadia Haddad Abstract
(Chadia_9@hotmail.com)
People’s practice, including adherence to disease prevention strategies, is influenced
Citation: Haddad, C., Bou Malhab, by their knowledge and attitude, which differ by sex. This study aimed to validate a
S., Malaeb, D., Sacre, H., Saadeh,
D., Bou Tayeh, C., & Salameh, P. tool that measures knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) toward COVID-19 and
(2021). Factors associated with explore the related factors, including socioeconomic features and sex disparities. An
knowledge, attitudes, and practices online cross-sectional study conducted between December 20, 2020, and January
of the general Lebanese population
toward the coronavirus disease 5, 2021, enrolled 405 participants from the general Lebanese population using
2019. International Journal of a snowball sampling technique. The COVID-19 KAP scales were constructed and
Population Studies, 7(2):93-107. validated. After confirming the validity of the generated scales, the results showed
https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.
v7i2.342 that a university education level (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 3.90) was related to a
better knowledge of COVID-19. A higher household crowding index (aOR = 0.41), a
Received: September 9, 2022
higher anxiety (aOR = 0.88), and do not know if there was an indirect contact with
Accepted: November 6, 2022 a COVID-19 patient (aOR = 0.44) were significantly associated with low knowledge
Published Online: December 6, 2022 of COVID-19. Having a family member working in the medical field (aOR = 1.76) and
higher COVID-19 fear scores (aOR = 1.04) were associated with a more acceptable
Copyright: © 2022 Author(s).
This is an Open Access article attitude toward COVID-19. Furthermore, higher knowledge scores (aOR = 1.14),
distributed under the terms of the higher attitude scores (aOR = 1.41), higher COVID-19 fear scores (aOR = 1.10), and
Creative Commons Attribution more time spent on COVID-19 information (aOR = 1.91) were associated with good
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, these associations differed by sex,
provided the original work is except for the crowding index, which were inversely associated with knowledge in
properly cited. both sexes, while education level and indirect exposure to COVID-19 were significant
Publisher’s Note: AccScience only among females. Knowledge about COVID-19 did not affect attitudes, but a
Publishing remains neutral with good attitude was related to better practice in both sexes. Moreover, higher fear
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional and more time spent on COVID-19 information were significantly associated with
affiliations. better practice among females. Overall, this study validated tools to highlight the

Volume 7 Issue 2 (2021) 93 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.v7i2.342