Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is one of the most critical problems in the world, in which physicians are one of the primary groups in contact with patients who have highly transmissible pathogens. This study aims to assess the changes in attitude and practice toward COVID-19 among physicians in Makkah.
Methodology: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional, survey-based study including physicians from different facilities in Makkah. To achieve the study's aim, an online survey with 24-items was created and distributed from July 19 until August 5, 2020. Then, data were entered automatically into the excel sheet then onto the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences for analysis.
Results: The study included 134 physicians from different hospitals in Makkah; most were females (66.4%; 89), with 119 participants (88.8%) aged less than 30 years. Nearly half of the participants (52.2%; 70) had a negative or neutral attitude, while good practice was detected among 110 participants (82.1%). Male sex, consultants, and work during the pandemic peak showed a significant association with attitude (p-value = 0.001, 0.003, and 0.003, respectively). Lastly, males had nearly seven times more positive attitudes toward COVID-19 than females keeping all other factors constant (odds ratio = 6.6; 95% confidence interval: 2.1-20.9).
Conclusion: This study suggested that nearly half of the physicians from several Makkah city facilities, in particular males, have had good attitudes. Furthermore, appropriate practices were detected equally among both genders toward COVID-19 during the pandemic period. However, more studies with a larger sample size are recommended to confirm our results.
Key words: COVID-19, attitude, practice, healthcare workers, questionnaire, Makkah.
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