Knowledge, attitude, practice and psychological response toward COVID-19 among nurses during the COVID-19 outbreak in Northern Ethiopia, 2020

Abstract

Background Coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID-19) is not only a deadly outbreak disease but also affects the mental status of the population, including nurses. Nurses play a vital role in dealing with COVID-19 victims. Nurses’ infection control measures are affected by their knowledge, attitude, practice (KAP), and psychological responses towards COVID-19. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the knowledge, attitude, practice, and psychological response among nurses toward the COVID-19 outbreak in Northern Ethiopia. The hospital-based cross-sectional study design was employed. The data were collected from March to April 2020. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire.

The data were entered into Epi-data manager version 4.2 and exported to SPSS 23 for analysis. Descriptive analysis was reported to describe the demographic, mean knowledge, attitude practice, and psychological response score of nurses.

Results A total of 415 nurses participated in this study, resulting in a 100% response rate. Of the participants, 241 (58.1%) were female. Of the 415 nurses, 307 (74%), 278 (67%), 299 (72%), and 354 (85.3%) had good knowledge, good infection prevention practice, a favorable attitude, and disturbed psychological response towards COVID-19, respectively.