1.Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Personal Protective Equipment Use in Healthcare: Findings from the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Era
Khalidah Maruan ; Divya Nair Narayanan ; Samsiah Awang
International Journal of Public Health Research 2025;15(1):2114-2123
		                        		
		                        			
		                        			The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has increased the demand for  personal  protective  equipment  (PPE),  prompting  a  need  to  assess  its  usage  among  healthcare  workers  following  established  guidelines  and  ensure  its  rational  use.  This  study  aimed  to  assess  the  knowledge,  attitude,  and  practice  (KAP)  of  PPE  use  among  healthcare  workers  (HCWs)  in  Ministry  of  Health  (MOH) facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic and to determine the predictors associated with good KAP.MethodsThis  cross-sectional  study  was  conducted  from  February  to  March  2021.  The  study utilized an online, anonymous, self-administered questionnaire which was pretested and content-validated. The final questionnaire consisted of 28 items and was  distributed  among  HCWs  working  directly  with  patients/specimens/close  contacts  in  the  MOH  facilities.  Descriptive  and  inferential  analyses  were  performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences 26.0.ResultsA  total  of  3132  respondents  were  included  in  the  analysis  after  the  exclusion  criteria.  87.7%  of  HCWs  possessed  a  good  knowledge  of  PPE,  71.1%  had  a  positive attitude, and 10.2% showed good practice. Formal training and having a good attitude and knowledge were significant predictors for good knowledge and positive  attitude,  respectively,  while  age,  gender,  state  region  and  HCWs’  designation were the significant predictors of good practice.ConclusionsMost HCWs possessed good knowledge and positive attitude on PPE use but low magnitude on practice in terms of following guidelines, suggesting a gap between the  level  of  knowledge  and  attitude  and  the  actual  practice.  This  necessitates  additional  education and  training  approaches  to  promote  compliance  with  guidelines and ensure the rational use of PPE.
		                        		
		                        		
		                        		
		                        	
            
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