Knowledge and attitude towards hydrocephalus among healthcare providers and the general population in Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: Hydrocephalus is a worldwide disorder characterized by abnormal flow or rarely excessive production of cerebrospinal fluid, leading to the widening of the cerebral ventricles system due to the accumulation of the cerebrospinal fluid in the brain. Previous researches have shown that knowledge about the disorder is limited among healthcare providers and the population, affecting attitudes toward patients, as well as patient outcomes. AIM: To investigate healthcare providers and population's knowledge and attitudes towards hydrocephalus in Saudi Arabia. METHODOLOGY: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted through an electronic questionnaire. The survey was self-constructed in Arabic and English by the research team and inspired by other awareness questionnaires and validated before use by three experts. RESULTS: There were 444 participants in this study, aged between 17 and 73 years with a mean age of 32.60 ± 10.98. Most of the participants were from the general population (74.8%). More than half of the participants had a bachelor's degree (60.1%). 38.4% of healthcare providers had negative knowledge while 61.6% had positive knowledge. In addition, 82.5% of the general population had negative knowledge, although 17.5% had positive knowledge. Moreover, it was observed that 17.0% of the healthcare providers had a bad attitude while 83.0% had a good attitude. In addition, 60.2% of the general population had a bad attitude, whereas 39.8% had a good attitude. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that the level of knowledge and attitude towards hydrocephalus among healthcare providers was good on both aspects, while it was poor among the general population.