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Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perception as Predictors of COVID-19 Safety Practices of Ride-Hailing Operators in Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Study

Since its outbreak, health authorities have launched vigorous COVID-19 health promotion campaigns. This study assesses ride-hailing operators’ COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and practices in Ghana, with the aim of engendering precautionary behaviour among the populace. A complementary mixed methods...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Agyemang, Ernest, Yaro, Joseph Awetori
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10001826/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36901539
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054529
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author Agyemang, Ernest
Yaro, Joseph Awetori
author_facet Agyemang, Ernest
Yaro, Joseph Awetori
author_sort Agyemang, Ernest
collection PubMed
description Since its outbreak, health authorities have launched vigorous COVID-19 health promotion campaigns. This study assesses ride-hailing operators’ COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and practices in Ghana, with the aim of engendering precautionary behaviour among the populace. A complementary mixed methods approach was adopted. This involved a cross-sectional survey of 1014 participants who were also allowed to share their COVID-19-related lived experiences qualitatively after successfully completing the survey. The aggregate correct knowledge score was 84%. Most respondents were frightful of the virus (96%), but the majority had faith in the COVID-19 protocols (87%). Thus, most participants reported high use of face masks (95%) and practise personal hygiene (92%). However, social media misinformation and the subsequent complacency have dissuaded some participants from complying with the safety protocols. The qualitative data also show evidence of high susceptibility to COVID-19. The perceived benefits of safe behaviour, including masking up, were equally high among drivers surveyed, albeit barriers to preventative behaviours remain rife. Therefore, this study emphasises the importance of sustaining and improving public awareness by highlighting the susceptibility of all demographic groups to the virus and the need to counteract misinformation on social media.
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spelling pubmed-100018262023-03-11 Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perception as Predictors of COVID-19 Safety Practices of Ride-Hailing Operators in Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Study Agyemang, Ernest Yaro, Joseph Awetori Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Since its outbreak, health authorities have launched vigorous COVID-19 health promotion campaigns. This study assesses ride-hailing operators’ COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and practices in Ghana, with the aim of engendering precautionary behaviour among the populace. A complementary mixed methods approach was adopted. This involved a cross-sectional survey of 1014 participants who were also allowed to share their COVID-19-related lived experiences qualitatively after successfully completing the survey. The aggregate correct knowledge score was 84%. Most respondents were frightful of the virus (96%), but the majority had faith in the COVID-19 protocols (87%). Thus, most participants reported high use of face masks (95%) and practise personal hygiene (92%). However, social media misinformation and the subsequent complacency have dissuaded some participants from complying with the safety protocols. The qualitative data also show evidence of high susceptibility to COVID-19. The perceived benefits of safe behaviour, including masking up, were equally high among drivers surveyed, albeit barriers to preventative behaviours remain rife. Therefore, this study emphasises the importance of sustaining and improving public awareness by highlighting the susceptibility of all demographic groups to the virus and the need to counteract misinformation on social media. MDPI 2023-03-03 /pmc/articles/PMC10001826/ /pubmed/36901539 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054529 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Agyemang, Ernest
Yaro, Joseph Awetori
Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perception as Predictors of COVID-19 Safety Practices of Ride-Hailing Operators in Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Study
title Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perception as Predictors of COVID-19 Safety Practices of Ride-Hailing Operators in Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_full Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perception as Predictors of COVID-19 Safety Practices of Ride-Hailing Operators in Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_fullStr Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perception as Predictors of COVID-19 Safety Practices of Ride-Hailing Operators in Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_full_unstemmed Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perception as Predictors of COVID-19 Safety Practices of Ride-Hailing Operators in Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_short Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perception as Predictors of COVID-19 Safety Practices of Ride-Hailing Operators in Ghana: A Cross-Sectional Study
title_sort knowledge, attitudes, and perception as predictors of covid-19 safety practices of ride-hailing operators in ghana: a cross-sectional study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10001826/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36901539
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054529
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