Perception of COVID-19 Prevention Methods Efficacy and Intention to Use Among Patients with Chronic Disease in Dessie Town, Northeast Ethiopia: A Multicentered Cross-sectional Study

BACKGROUND: In Ethiopia, people infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have been increasing dramatically. COVID-19 precaution measures are essential for highly susceptible groups. However, it was not known previously to what extent chronic disease patients were perceived to know about the efficacy of prevention measures. Hence, the aim of this study was to assess perception of patients with chronic disease toward the efficacy of COVID-19 preventive measures and their intention to carry out those measures. METHODS: A multicentered institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 413 patients attended in selected hospitals of Dessie town from July 21 to August 5, 2020. Hospitals were selected using the lottery method and systematic random sampling was utilized to select study participants. An interviewer-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect the data and the tool had four dimensions which include sociodemographic, clinical profile and risk assessment, perceived efficacy of prevention measures, and patient’s intention to carry out measures. In multivariable analysis, variables were declared statistically significant at a p-value of <0.05. RESULTS: In this study, the mean age of participants was 48.2 years (SD ±15.8 years) and 52.1% were females. In overall, 42.1% of participants had low perception on the efficacy of prevention measures and 28.3% had low intention to carry out measures. In this study, young adults (AOR=2.48; 95%CI: 1.42–4.31), male gender (AOR=2.75; 95%CI: 1.73–4.37), low literacy (AOR=3.42; 95%CI: 1.47–7.94) and face mask nonusers (AOR=1.64; 95%CI: 1.03–2.61) were significantly associated with low perceived efficacy of COVID-19 prevention methods. CONCLUSION: In this study, a significant proportion of patients had low perception about the efficacy of COVID-19 prevention measures and nearly one-third of them had low intention to carry out prevention measures. Therefore, health education programs about efficacy of preventive measures should be provided by health professionals targeting high risk groups.