Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Towards COVID-19 Infection among Oral Healthcare Workers at a Tertiary Dental Hospital in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Oral healthcare workers are at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 due to the nature of their work. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards COVID-19 among all categories of oral healthcare workers (OHCWs) at a tertiary dental hospital in Sri Lanka. This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted towards the end of COVID-19 pandemic in December 2022. A self-administered questionnaire was used as the study instrument. The knowledge, attitudes and practices were categorised as poor- 80% according to the score. The mean knowledge score, attitude score and practice score of OHCWs regarding COVID-19 infection was 6.7 (SD1.5), 35.5 (SD 3.7), and 13.6 (SD 2.8) respectively. Only 6.4% of the participants had excellent level of knowledge and it was significantly associated with the sex, OHCW category, and having children less than 10 years. Only 1.7% of participants exhibited excellent attitudes, and 75.5% of participants showed excellent practices. The practice score was significantly associated with sex, OHCW category, and marital status. OHCWs in a tertiary dental hospital, Sri Lanka had a moderate level of knowledge and attitude but excellent practices towards the COVID-19 infection. Continuous in-service training programs should be conducted among all OHCWs to improve the level of knowledge and attitudes as well as to maintain good practices for any future pandemic situations. Keywords Oral healthcare worker, Knowledge, Attitude, Practices, COVID-19, Sri Lanka