Development of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
During this COVID-19 pandemic, massive unverified information has flooded the social media platforms, causing heightened levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms among public. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the COVID-19 related knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) an...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2020
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16286/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16286/1/23_ms0451_pdf_17090.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848814013842980864 |
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| author | Puwaneswarry M, Nathratul Ayeshah Z, Gaaitheri K, Lim, KQ Wong, YH Tang, SL Ng, Chong Guan |
| author_facet | Puwaneswarry M, Nathratul Ayeshah Z, Gaaitheri K, Lim, KQ Wong, YH Tang, SL Ng, Chong Guan |
| author_sort | Puwaneswarry M, |
| building | UKM Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | During this COVID-19 pandemic, massive unverified information has flooded
the social media platforms, causing heightened levels of anxiety and depressive
symptoms among public. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between
the COVID-19 related knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) and its psychological
impact, such as anxiety and depressive symptoms in Malaysia population. A crosssectional
online survey was conducted from 8th to 22nd April 2020, involving 227
respondents. The set of questionnaire included sociodemographic characteristics,
the KAP questionnaire – 11 items on knowledge (K1-K11), 3 items on attitude (A1-
A3), 4 items on practice (P1-P4), together with Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)
and Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) Scale. To evaluate the data, descriptive
analysis, Chi-square test and item response theory analysis were implemented.
The percentage of respondents who answered the true statements items from
Knowledge component (K1-K3) correctly was almost 100%. However, that of
items testing on COVID-19 myths (K4-K11) ranged from 38.8% to 95.2%. The only
item from Attitude component which had less than 95% being answered correctly
was A1 (78.9%), regarding face masks usage. From the Practice component, over
80% of respondents identified that they used social media to obtain updates on
COVID-19 all the time. This is alarming as most of the information circulating on
social media have not been verified by relevant authorities, which might lead to,
and continuously reinforce anxiety-inducing myths. This study showed that lower
overall KAP scores, particularly for Knowledge component items, are related to
higher anxiety levels and more depressive symptoms. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-15T00:27:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | oai:generic.eprints.org:16286 |
| institution | Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-15T00:27:20Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | oai:generic.eprints.org:162862021-03-16T02:41:42Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16286/ Development of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia Puwaneswarry M, Nathratul Ayeshah Z, Gaaitheri K, Lim, KQ Wong, YH Tang, SL Ng, Chong Guan During this COVID-19 pandemic, massive unverified information has flooded the social media platforms, causing heightened levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms among public. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the COVID-19 related knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) and its psychological impact, such as anxiety and depressive symptoms in Malaysia population. A crosssectional online survey was conducted from 8th to 22nd April 2020, involving 227 respondents. The set of questionnaire included sociodemographic characteristics, the KAP questionnaire – 11 items on knowledge (K1-K11), 3 items on attitude (A1- A3), 4 items on practice (P1-P4), together with Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) Scale. To evaluate the data, descriptive analysis, Chi-square test and item response theory analysis were implemented. The percentage of respondents who answered the true statements items from Knowledge component (K1-K3) correctly was almost 100%. However, that of items testing on COVID-19 myths (K4-K11) ranged from 38.8% to 95.2%. The only item from Attitude component which had less than 95% being answered correctly was A1 (78.9%), regarding face masks usage. From the Practice component, over 80% of respondents identified that they used social media to obtain updates on COVID-19 all the time. This is alarming as most of the information circulating on social media have not been verified by relevant authorities, which might lead to, and continuously reinforce anxiety-inducing myths. This study showed that lower overall KAP scores, particularly for Knowledge component items, are related to higher anxiety levels and more depressive symptoms. Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2020-12 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16286/1/23_ms0451_pdf_17090.pdf Puwaneswarry M, and Nathratul Ayeshah Z, and Gaaitheri K, and Lim, KQ and Wong, YH and Tang, SL and Ng, Chong Guan (2020) Development of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. Medicine & Health, 15 (2). pp. 262-275. ISSN 2289-5728 https://www.medicineandhealthukm.com/toc/15/2 |
| spellingShingle | Puwaneswarry M, Nathratul Ayeshah Z, Gaaitheri K, Lim, KQ Wong, YH Tang, SL Ng, Chong Guan Development of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia |
| title | Development of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia |
| title_full | Development of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia |
| title_fullStr | Development of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Development of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia |
| title_short | Development of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia |
| title_sort | development of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (kap) towards covid-19 pandemic in malaysia |
| url | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16286/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16286/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/16286/1/23_ms0451_pdf_17090.pdf |