Abstract

Background: COVID-19 has no effective cure, yet early
recognition of symptoms and timely seeking of supportive care and
preventive practices enhance recovery from the illness and combat the
spread of the virus. To reduce the risk of transmission in the community,
individuals should be advised to wash hands diligently, practice
respiratory hygiene (cover their cough), avoid crowds and close
contact with ill individuals (WHO,2019). This study was a cross
sectional descriptive study carried out in January, 2021 designed to
assess the knowledge, attitude, perception of covid-19 prevention
practices among residents in selected local government areas in Lagos
State Nigeria. The knowledge obtained from this research should act as
a framework for educating the population about the triggers, modes of
infection and, most specifically, disease prevention. Methods: The data
was collected and analyzed using the statistical package of social
(SPSS) version 28. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were
used. Inferential statistic that was used is Chi-square and was adopted
in testing the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. Four hundred
and twenty questionnaires (420) were administered, and four hundred
were completely and correctly filled. The response rate was 95.2%.
Results: The mean age of the respondents was 38.43±16.4years. The
ages of the majority 118 (29.5%) of the respondents, fell within the 30
to 39 years age range. Most 251(62.8%) of the respondents were female
while less than half 158(39.5%) of the respondents were Muslims. More
than half 208(52.0%) of the respondents were married. Few
135(33.8%) of the respondents had tertiary education, with less than
half 151(37.8%) of the respondents without formal education. Most
174(43.4%) of the respondents are Artisans. More than half
241(60.3%) of the respondents had fair knowledge about COVID19,
with 159(39.8%) of the respondents having good knowledge. Most
279(69.8%) of the respondents had low perception of COVID19
prevention while 121(30.2%) of the respondents had high perception.
All 400(100%) of the respondents had negative attitudinal disposition
towards COVID19 prevention. Slightly half 262(67.8%) of the
respondents had poor prevention practices, while 198(49.5%) of the
respondents had good prevention practices. Conclusion: This study
provided a comprehensive look at the knowledge, attitude and
perception of COVID19 prevention practices among residents of selected local government areas in Lagos Nigeria. The participants had
a high level of knowledge about the virus and good practice towards
using protective measures, which is significant towards controlling the
spread of the virus. But the attitudinal disposition of the respondent’s
was negative; this could be because of inadequate information
regarding the virus. This study recommends developing informative
COVID-19 related campaigns, and providing necessary protective
mask and hand sanitizers for the residence of this community. Effective
health education campaigns aimed at enhancing attitude of COVID-19
are therefore desperately needed to promote positive mindset and
maintain appropriate preventive practices and health campaigns
should be more focused on practices such as regular hand-washing
with soap and water and social distancing, which protect against
transmission of COVID-19 among community members irrespective of
their sex.