Knowledge, attitude and adherence to COVID-19 prevention among community health workers in Nigeria

INTRODUCTION: community health workers play important roles in curtailing the spread of COVID-19. This study therefore investigated the knowledge, attitude and adherence to practice of COVID-19 prevention-protocols among community health workers in selected States of Nigeria. METHODS: purposive sampling method was adopted. A cohort of community health workers testing and enrolling human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive-clients into care were involved in the study. Questionnaire on Microsoft forms was completed by 366 participants. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods. RESULTS: key findings revealed that 87.80% have good knowledge of COVID-19; 96.10% positive attitude towards COVID-19 prevention-protocols and 97.20% adhere to the protocols. Demographics variables have significant positive effect on adherence to COVID-19 prevention-protocol among the respondents as follows: marital status (X(2): 21.91; p: <0.05), gender (X(2): 9.01; p: 0.003), ethnic group (X(2): 17.45; p: <0.05), State of residence (X(2): 32.51; p: <0.05), education status (X(2): 18.44; p: 0.005). Findings revealed there is no significant relationship between knowledge of COVID-19 and the anxiety status of community health workers (p=0.90). There is positive relationship between knowledge of COVID-19 and attitude to guidelines and adherence to COVID-19 prevention-protocols. R=0.20 (<0.05) and 0.195 (<0.05) respectively. CONCLUSION: the high knowledge of COVID-19, positive attitude and adherence to the prevention-protocols among community health workers provides assurance of their ability to provide factual information to the community and their ability to promote good attitude and adherence to the prevention-protocols. Key sociodemographic variable like marital status, gender, ethnic groups, educational status and State of residents play significant roles in adherence to COVID-19 prevention-protocols.