Knowledge, attitude, and practice of Nepalese residents in the prevention and control of COVID-19: A cross-sectional web-based survey

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused a global public health crisis. Preventive measures to tackle the deadly virus are influenced by people's knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) toward COVID-19. This study aimed to assess the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice toward COVID-19 among Nepalese residents in Nepal. METHODOLOGY: A web-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among 755 Nepalese residents across all seven provinces of Nepal. The questionnaire used to determine the KAP of the participants was derived from a previous study conducted in Nepal. Descriptive analysis was done to identify the distribution of socio-economic and demographic characteristics of participants. Factors associated with residents’ KAP regarding COVID-19 were examined using Chi-square tests at the significance level of 0.05. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 24.6 years. At the time of data collection, 8.2% of the participants had their families in isolation or quarantine center. In this study, 76.4%, 58.0%, and 63.6% of the participants had a good knowledge level, attitude level, and practice level respectively regarding COVID-19. Occupation and marital status were significantly associated with knowledge, attitude, and practice level. Age was significantly associated with knowledge and attitude level. Those participants who had their family members in quarantine were found to have a good level of preventive practice. The knowledge-attitude (r(ka =) 0.184, p < 0.001), attitude-practice (r(ap) = 0.125, p < 0.001) and knowledge-practice (r(kp =) 0.07, p < 0.05) were positively correlated in this study. CONCLUSION: This study showed satisfactory awareness regarding COVID-19 among Nepalese residents. Community-based health education programs should be promoted to develop a positive attitude toward healthy practices to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic or any future health crisis.