Introduction: The outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) has impacted the lifestyles of people all over the globe as well as the economies of virtually every country. Several control measures have been introduced by both the State and Federal governments to fight the disease since its outbreak in Nigeria. In spite of all the measures, the disease is still ravaging the country. Therefore, this study investigated the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of the clients who attended public primary healthcare facilities (PHFs) in Rivers State, Nigeria about COVID-19.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted involving the clients seeking care at the 92 PHFs across the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Rivers State, Nigeria. The respondents were selected using simple random sampling and data were analysed using mean and standard deviation, percentages, chi-square test and binary logistic regression.
Results: A total of 434 respondents voluntarily participated in the study out of 460 questionnaires that were distributed, indicating a high response rate of 94.3%. The proportions of respondents with scores moderate and above in KAP were 86.6% (62.9+23.7), 80.6% (57.6+23.0), and 58.0% (30.8+27.2) respectively. Occupation, educational level, and senatorial district of respondents were significantly associated with knowledge and attitude (P<0.05). Preventive practice against COVID-19 was influenced by age and senatorial district among patients attending primary health facilities (P<0.05). Also, the knowledge level was significantly associated with both attitude and COVID-19 related practices (P=0.000). The multiple logistic regression results revealed some demographics with significant association with KAP. Respondents who have sufficient knowledge about COVID-19 were significantly less likely to have a negative attitude and to adopt poor COVID-19 related practices than those that had insufficient knowledge.
Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, we suggest public health education programs on COVID-19 should principally be targeted at individuals with low knowledge level, lower educational attainment, and those residing in the Rivers South-East senatorial zone. Such efforts may mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the target population in Rivers State.