Previously submitted to: Journal of Medical Internet Research (no longer under consideration since Apr 26, 2021)
Date Submitted: Mar 21, 2021
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Brazilian people general knowledge about COVID-19 disease and safety measures: an online survey
ABSTRACT
Background:
COVID-19 presents itself as a clinical condition ranging from an asymptomatic infection to a severe respiratory condition. Due to its high transmissibility, the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has spread rapidly around the world and preventive measures are necessary. People adherence to these measures can be affected by their knowledge and attitudes.
Objective:
Our aim was to assess the knowledge of a Brazilian sample (n=2,673) about COVID-19 and their knowledge and attitudes regarding the disease.
Methods:
We have prepared an online survey (“Google Forms”), disseminated through social networks and carried out in May 2020, with Brazilian’s adults who volunteered to answer a multiple-choice questionnaire about prevention, symptoms, transmission, and treatment of COVID-19. Average age of our sample was 40.0 (±13.8) years and the majority were women (76.3%), married (47.2%), Catholic (46.4%), with graduate degree (44.2%), family income of 4 to 7 minimum wages in R$ (30.4%), and from the Southeast region (87.2%).
Results:
The knowledge level about COVID-19 of Brazilian people was considered “very good”, with an average percentage of correct answers of 83.8% (±6.6). Significant associations were found between the level of knowledge with age, sex, religion, education, and income. The level of knowledge was “very good” in relation to COVID-19, with younger people, women, and agnostics/atheists. Health professionals having greater knowledge while people with low family income and less education had a lower level of knowledge.
Conclusions:
Although our results are positive regarding the level of knowledge and attitudes towards COVID-19 in Brazil, it is necessary to consider that our sample is predominantly from the region with the highest socio-economic and educational level, that is, the Southeast region. Clinical Trial: -
Citation
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