Healthcare providers’ demographic characteristics
Table 1 reveals the respondents’ socio-demographic data. As shown in Table 1, above half (61.3%) of the HCPs were male and more than (67%) were in the age group of 20 to 30 years old and a mean of 29.25±6.75. Concerning the occupation, 22.4% of the respondents were physician followed by pharmacist (17.8%), laboratory (16.3%) and nurses (16.2%). 4.5% of them had Ph.D. and only 1.8% had Board. 88.2% of the respondents had 10 years of working experience or less. Regarding COVID-19 related information sources, social media were the main source for 31.0% of the respondents and news media for 26.1% of them. Around 99.0% of the respondents heard about novel COVID-19, whereas 60.3% of them never attended lectures or discussions of novel COVID-19.
Healthcare providers’ level of knowledge regarding COVID-19 pandemic
Figure 1 describes the level of knowledge among healthcare providers regarding COVID-19 pandemic. A 21-items followed with “True” or “False” choices, was used to assess the respondents’ knowledge level regarding COVID-19. As shown in Figure 1, the most (69.60%) healthcare providers had an adequate knowledge level regarding COVID-19 pandemic, while 29.80% of them had moderate knowledge, and only 0.60% had inadequate knowledge about COVID-19 pandemic. The lowest percentages were related to the four statements that discussed the importance of wearing masks in the society, having to wear N95 mask only during intubation, suction, bronchoscopy and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the possibility to treat the disease by usual antiviral drugs and antibiotics as the first-line treatment, which scored (70.0%, 68.9%, 28.4% and 27.2%), respectively.
Healthcare providers’ attitude toward COVID-19 pandemic
Figure 2 demonstrates the level of attitude toward COVID-19 pandemic among Yemeni healthcare providers. The level of respondents’ attitude toward COVID-19 pandemic was assessed via ten-items followed with “Yes” or “No” choices. As shown in Figure 2, the findings indicating that the majority (85.00%) of the respondents had a positive attitude, while 15.00% of them had a negative attitude toward COVID-19 pandemic. However, although the vast majority of the respondents exhibited a high level of optimistic attitude toward COVID-19 pandemic, 75.1 % of them still thought that they would not get the disease and almost 29.4% willing to move to other places within the country to be safe during the pandemic.
Healthcare providers’ anxiety toward COVID-19 pandemic
Figure 3 presents the level of anxiety among Yemeni healthcare providers toward COVID-19 pandemic. Level of the respondents' anxiety was assessed via 17-items about COVID-19. Answers on a 5-Likert scale were used, in which the score of 0 to 5 was given, from always to never. As shown in Figure 3, the findings indicating that nearly above half of the respondents had a moderate level of anxiety toward COVID-19 pandemic, whereas 27.70% of them had a high level and 21.50% had a low level of anxiety toward COVID-19 pandemic.
Healthcare providers’ self-reported preventive behaviors toward COVID-19 pandemic
A ten-items followed by “Yes” or “No” responses, was used to assess the respondents’ level of self-reported preventive behaviours towards COVID-19. Five items were to reduce public places use during daily life, one item was related to preventive behaviour when coughing/sneezing, two items were related to hand washing and surfaces disinfection frequently and one item was related to talking with family and friends regarding preventive measures of COVID-19. As shown in Figure 4, the vast majority (87.60%) of respondents exhibited sufficient preventive behaviours, while only 12.40% demonstrated low preventive behaviours. The lowest score (84.6%) was related to cancelled or postponed activities and events such as eating out, sports and meetings with colleagues.
Association between the respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics and their Knowledge, attitude, anxiety and preventive behaviours
Table 2 presents the association between the respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics and their Knowledge, attitude, anxiety and preventive behaviours towards COVID-19 pandemic. As shown in table 2, there was only a significant positive correlation between the respondents’ level of knowledge about COVID-19 and their occupation (p-value =0.012). There was no significant positive correlation between the respondents’ level of attitude toward COVID-19 and their working experience years (p-value =0.238). Likewise, no significant positive association between the respondents’ anxiety and their age was found (p-value =0.238). Regarding the preventive behaviours towards COVID-19, there was an only significant positive association between the respondents’ level of performance and their sex and educational level at p-value (0.020 & 0.003), respectively.
Correlation between respondents’ knowledge, attitude, anxiety and preventive behaviors scores
Table 3 showed the correlations between healthcare providers’ knowledge, attitude, anxiety and preventive behaviours scores. The correlation was divided into four levels based on the following criteria: weak = 0–0.25, fair = 0.25–0.5, good = 0.5– 0.75, and excellent = 0.75 or greater [18]. As illustrated in Table 3, there was a significant positive linear correlations between knowledge-attitude (r = 0.157, p < 0.001), knowledge-anxiety (r = 0.135, p < 0.001), knowledge-preventive behaviours (r = 0.317, p < 0.001), attitude-anxiety (r = 0.069, p < 0.014), attitude-preventive behaviours (r = 0.297, p < 0.001) and anxiety-preventive behaviours (r = 0.279, p < 0.001). The result indicates the relationship between knowledge, attitude, anxiety and preventive behaviours toward COVID-19 pandemic.
Table 1 Healthcare providers’ demographic characteristics
Demographic characteristic
|
no (%)
|
Age
|
20-30
|
838(67.4)
|
31-40
|
313(25.2)
|
41-50
|
79(6.4)
|
51-60
|
14(1.1)
|
Mean±SD
|
29.25±6.75
|
Sex
|
Male
|
763(61.3)
|
Female
|
481(38.7)
|
Occupations
|
Physician
|
279(22.4)
|
Nurses
|
201(16.2)
|
Laboratory
|
203(16.3)
|
Anesthesia
|
57(4.6)
|
Dentist
|
55(4.4)
|
Medical Academicians
|
72(5.8)
|
Pharmacist
|
221(17.8)
|
Community
|
55(4.4)
|
Midwifery
|
26(2.1)
|
Physiotherapy
|
20(1.6)
|
Nutrition
|
45(3.6)
|
Radiology
|
10(0.8)
|
Education Level
|
Diploma
|
176(14.1)
|
Bachelors
|
908(73.0)
|
Master
|
82(6.6)
|
Ph.D
|
56(4.5)
|
Board
|
22(1.8)
|
Years of working experience
|
0-10
|
1097(88.2)
|
11-20
|
125(10.0)
|
>20
|
22(1.8)
|
Mean±SD
|
4.23±5.57
|
Sources of information about COVID-19
|
News media
|
720(26.1)
|
Social media
|
857(31.0)
|
Ministry of health and WHO
|
552(20.0)
|
Family and friend
|
307(11.1)
|
Working Place
|
325(11.8)
|
Heard about Novel Covid-19
|
Yes
|
1231(99.0)
|
No
|
13(1.0)
|
Attended lectures/discussions about Covid-19
|
Yes
|
494(39.7)
|
No
|
750(60.3)
|
Table 2 Association between the respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics, Knowledge, attitude, anxiety and preventive behaviours
Demographic characteristic
|
Knowledge
|
Attitudes
|
Anxiety
|
Preventive behaviors
|
Sex
|
Male
|
8.62±1.24
|
17.18±1.99
|
9.02±1.70
|
42.35±12.52
|
Female
|
8.66±1.28
|
16.95±2.01
|
9.27±1.51
|
44.02±12.09
|
p value
|
0.540
|
0.048
|
0.008
|
0.020
|
Age (years)
|
18-30
|
8.63±1.28
|
17.22±1.83
|
9.10±1.60
|
43.54±12.39
|
31-40
|
8.63±1.16
|
16.77±2.42
|
9.06±1.86
|
42.13±13.02
|
41-50
|
8.68±1.30
|
17.17±1.79
|
9.30±1.06
|
40.88±10.02
|
51-60
|
9.07±1.20
|
16.57±0.75
|
9.85±0.36
|
41.64±6.60
|
p value
|
0.615
|
0.005
|
0.238
|
0.130
|
Occupation
|
Physician
|
8.79±1.31
|
17.24±1.49
|
9.35±1.28
|
42.67±11.18
|
Nurses
|
8.64±1.27
|
16.79±2.71
|
8.95±1.75
|
43.11±12.26
|
Laboratory
|
8.68±1.06
|
17.14±2.34
|
8.97±1.91
|
44.24±13.86
|
Anesthesia
|
8.54±0.82
|
17.15±2.02
|
9.47±0.82
|
44.80±11.13
|
Dentist
|
8.58±1.43
|
16.47±1.90
|
9.58±0.78
|
42.38±11.89
|
Academics
|
8.93±1.12
|
17.08±1.45
|
8.97±1.56
|
42.38±12.49
|
Pharmacist
|
8.44±1.26
|
17.34±1.75
|
9.02±1.81
|
42.50±12.56
|
Community
|
8.20±1.71
|
17.01±1.52
|
8.72±2.11
|
39.72±13.78
|
Midwifery
|
8.42±1.39
|
16.46±2.33
|
9.34±1.06
|
39.73±10.83
|
Physiotherapy
|
8.80±1.11
|
17.00±1.62
|
9.05±1.27
|
42.75±13.36
|
Nutrition
|
8.82±1.09
|
17.00±1.39
|
8.97±2.05
|
46.22±12.46
|
Radiology
|
8.20±1.03
|
18.70±1.41
|
9.40±1.26
|
45.80±10.65
|
p value
|
0.012
|
0.011
|
0.025
|
0.270
|
Years of working experience
|
0-10
|
8.63±1.25
|
17.10±2.04
|
9.06±1.70
|
43.21±12.71
|
11-20
|
8.56±1.24
|
16.96±1.72
|
9.51±0.95
|
41.88±9.03
|
>20
|
9.05±1.21
|
17.22±1.34
|
9.45±1.22
|
38.59±11.53
|
p value
|
0.258
|
0.721
|
0.009
|
0.127
|
Educational Level
|
Diploma
|
8.60±1.36
|
17.05±2.92
|
8.96±1.77
|
41.55±12.48
|
Bachelors
|
8.66±1.22
|
17.18±1.70
|
9.11±1.61
|
43.49±12.40
|
Master
|
8.64±1.07
|
17.22±1.39
|
9.62±0.76
|
42.56±10.70
|
Ph.D.
|
8.39±1.55
|
15.85±3.13
|
8.62±2.40
|
38.12±13.63
|
Board
|
8.63±1.17
|
16.77±1.34
|
9.90±0.42
|
48.09±8.81
|
p value
|
0.638
|
0.000
|
0.001
|
0.003
|
Table 3 Correlation between respondents’ knowledge, attitude, anxiety and preventive behaviours scores
Variable
|
Correlation coefficient
|
P-value
|
Knowledge-Attitude
|
0.157
|
0.001**
|
Knowledge-Anxiety
|
0.135
|
0.001**
|
Knowledge-Preventive behaviors
|
0.317
|
0.001**
|
Attitude-Anxiety
|
0.069
|
0.014*
|
Attitude-Preventive behaviors
|
0.297
|
0.001**
|
Anxiety-Preventive behaviors
|
0.279
|
0.001**
|
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).