Awareness and Performance towards Proper Use of Disinfectants to Prevent COVID-19: The Case of Iran

Zahra Safari, Reza Fouladi-Fard, Razieh Vahidmoghadam, Mohammad Raza Hosseini, Abolfazl Mohammadbeigi, Alireza Omidi Oskouei, Mostafa Rezaali, Margherita Ferrante and Maria Fiore
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Zahra Safari: Research Center for Environmental Pollutants, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom 3715614566, Iran
Reza Fouladi-Fard: Research Center for Environmental Pollutants, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom 3715614566, Iran
Razieh Vahidmoghadam: Research Center for Environmental Pollutants, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Faculty of Health, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom 3715614566, Iran
Mohammad Raza Hosseini: Student Research Committee, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom 3715614566, Iran
Abolfazl Mohammadbeigi: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom 3715614566, Iran
Alireza Omidi Oskouei: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom 3715614566, Iran
Mostafa Rezaali: Independent Researcher, Isfahan 8157983853, Iran
Margherita Ferrante: Department of Medical, Surgical and Advanced Technologies “G.F. Ingrassia”, University of Catania, 87-95123 Catania, Italy
Maria Fiore: Department of Medical, Surgical and Advanced Technologies “G.F. Ingrassia”, University of Catania, 87-95123 Catania, Italy

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 4, 1-14

Abstract: This study aimed to assess the awareness and performance of Qom citizens towards using disinfectants and compared its relationship with geographical distribution of COVID-19 outbreak in Qom, Iran. The study was conducted by a researcher-made questionnaire during April and May, 2020. COVID-19 incidence data for each district of city was obtained from health department of Qom province. Data were analyzed using Excel, SPSS and ArcView (GIS) softwares. It was found that the highest level of citizens’ awareness (52%) was in the weak range while their performance (56%) was in the good range. According to Spearman’s correlation analysis, there was a strong correlation (rho 0.95) between the total mean of awareness and performance ( p < 0.01). The highest incidence rate of COVID-19 was in district 7 which had the lowest mean score in both awareness and performance. In addition, the results of ANOVA (LSD—least significant difference) showed that there was a significant difference ( p < 0.05) between district 7—with lower mean scores in awareness and performance—and other districts. Overall, it is concluded that citizens’ awareness level was lower than that of their performance. This conclusion not only calls for more training programs to be implemented in public places, schools, universities and governmental offices, but it also necessitates maintaining a proper and timely training about using disinfectants.

Keywords: awareness; practice; disinfectant; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; geographical distribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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