The mean (SD) age of the study sample was 30.13 years (9.84). Males represent 55.4% of them. The majority of the responders were university and higher education level (95.2%) and most of them were residing in Khartoum state (Table 1).
The overall knowledge of the participants about COVID-19 was rated as good in 90.6 % with a mean (SD) score of 3.55 (0.870). The overall attitude was found to be good in 81.8% of the participants with a mean (SD) score of 4.14 (0.974). Those who classified as having good overall practice among respondents were 89.8% with mean (SD) score of 2.16 (0.596). Family practices were good in 72.4% with a mean (SD) score of 1.97 (0.731), while neighbors practices scored good in 63.4% by the participants with mean (SD) score of 1.86 (0.947)-Table 1. It is worth to mention, 89% of the study population stated that the health education messages were clear for them. The sources of information for the COVID-19 were mainly (78.5%) from the official announces of Federal Ministry of Health, World Health Organization, social media and mass media.
The overall knowledge was not associated with age, gender or area of residence but there was significant association between knowledge score and the education level (p-value = 0.001). The overall attitude was found to be associated with sex only, where females had better attitude (p value = 0.02). Personal practices were found to be associated with sex where females scored higher than males (p-value = 0.003) and associated with residence (p-value = 0.001). When knowledge was correlated with attitudes, there was significant association (p-value = 0.005) and significant association was found between good attitude and practice (p-value = 0.002)- Table 2.
Regarding the effect of the preventive measures taken to delay the spread of the disease, 40.7% of the population expressed major changes in their life (Table 1). This was significantly associated with age as those more than 50 years old more affected (p-value=0.001), and area of residence (p value = 0.001)-Table 3. Binary logistic regression revealed an association between overall good practice and gender, education, residence and attitude (Table 4).
Further analysis of specific items in attitude and practice such as hand washing and social distancing (data not shown), revealed that females have significantly more positive attitude towards hand washing. In addition, the practice of social isolation is significantly associated with gender and residence.
Table 1: Sociodemographic characteristics, overall knowledge, attitude and practice of the participants (n= 987)
Variables
|
Description
|
Frequency
|
Percentage (95% CI)
|
Age in years
|
Less than 30
|
576
|
58.4% (55.3 - 61.4)
|
30-40
|
262
|
26.5% (23.8 – 29.4)
|
41-50
|
101
|
10.2% (08.4 – 12.3)
|
More than 50
|
42
|
04.3% (03.1 – 05.7)
|
Gender
|
Male
|
549
|
55.6% (52.5 – 58.8)
|
Female
|
438
|
44.4% (41.2 – 47.5)
|
Education level
|
Basic education
|
43
|
04.4% (03.2 – 05.8)
|
High education
|
940
|
95.2% (93.7 – 96.5)
|
Non formal education
|
4
|
00.4% (00.1 – 01.0)
|
Residence
|
Khartoum state
|
708
|
71.7% (68.8 – 74.5)
|
Other states
|
168
|
17.0% (14.7 – 19.5)
|
Outside Sudan
|
111
|
11.2% (09.3 – 13.4)
|
Overall personal Knowledge
|
Poor
|
93
|
09.4% (07.7 - 11.4)
|
Good
|
894
|
90.6% (88.6 – 92.3)
|
Overall personal attitude
|
Poor
|
180
|
18.2% (15.9 – 20.8)
|
Good
|
807
|
81.8% (79.2 – 84.1)
|
Overall personal practice
|
Poor
|
101
|
10.2% (08.4 – 12.3)
|
Good
|
886
|
89.8% (87.7 – 91.6)
|
Overall family
practice
|
Poor
|
272
|
27.6% (24.8 – 30.5)
|
Good
|
715
|
72.4% (69.5 – 75.2)
|
Overall neighbors practice (n=576)
|
Poor
|
211
|
36.6% (32.7 – 40.7)
|
Good
|
365
|
63.4% (59.3 – 67.3)
|
Effects of adopted measures on the routine life
|
No effect
|
72
|
07.3% (05.8 – 09.1)
|
Minor effect
|
319
|
32.3% (29.4 – 35.3)
|
Major effect
|
402
|
40.7% (37.6 – 43.9)
|
Cannot evaluate
|
194
|
19.7% (17.2 – 22.3)
|
Perception of participants towards the methods od spread of COVID-109 in Sudan
|
bad attitudes such as open sneezing and coughing
|
894
|
90.6%
|
social gatherings
|
932
|
94.4%
|
gatherings at bakeries
|
918
|
93.0%
|
gatherings at markets
|
881
|
89.3%
|
|
public transportation
|
922
|
93.4%
|
Table 2: Cross-tabulation to show the relation between knowledge, attitude and practice with socio-demographic characteristics
Variables
|
Description
|
Knowledge
|
Attitude
|
Practice
|
Good
|
Poor
|
x2
|
p-value
|
Good
|
Poor
|
x2
|
p-value
|
Good
|
Poor
|
x2
|
p-value
|
Age in years
|
< 30
|
513
|
63
|
4.47
|
0.214
|
465
|
111
|
.44
|
0.696
|
507
|
69
|
7.34
|
0.062
|
30-40
|
245
|
17
|
217
|
45
|
239
|
23
|
41-50
|
93
|
8
|
85
|
16
|
97
|
4
|
> 50
|
38
|
4
|
36
|
6
|
39
|
3
|
Sex
|
Male
|
501
|
48
|
0.67
|
0.413
|
435
|
114
|
5.30
|
0.021
|
479
|
70
|
8.54
|
0.003
|
Female
|
393
|
45
|
372
|
66
|
407
|
31
|
Educational
level
|
Basic
|
32
|
11
|
14.11
|
0.001
|
34
|
9
|
2.96
|
0.228
|
36
|
7
|
2.78
|
0.249
|
Higher
|
858
|
82
|
771
|
169
|
847
|
93
|
Non-formal
|
4
|
0
|
2
|
2
|
3
|
1
|
Residence
|
Khartoum
|
639
|
69
|
1.45
|
0.486
|
578
|
130
|
2.43
|
0.297
|
632
|
76
|
13.72
|
0.001
|
Other states
|
151
|
17
|
133
|
35
|
144
|
24
|
Outside Sudan
|
104
|
7
|
96
|
15
|
110
|
1
|
Overall
knowledge
|
Poor
|
802
|
92
|
0.04
|
0.853
|
Good
|
84
|
9
|
Overall
attitude
|
Poor
|
736
|
71
|
9.92
|
0.002
|
Good
|
150
|
30
|
Table 3: Cross-tab to show the relation between the effect of preventive measures and socio-demographic characteristics
Variables
|
Description
|
Effect of the preventive measures
|
Chi-square
|
p-value
|
Major effect
|
Minor effect
|
No
effect
|
Cannot evaluate
|
Age in years
|
<30
|
207
|
189
|
52
|
128
|
30.53
|
0.001
|
30-40
|
113
|
85
|
14
|
50
|
41-50
|
54
|
31
|
4
|
12
|
>50
|
27
|
12
|
0
|
3
|
Gender
|
Male
|
228
|
189
|
37
|
95
|
5.89
|
0.117
|
Female
|
174
|
130
|
35
|
99
|
Education
level
|
Basic
|
17
|
12
|
3
|
11
|
4.90
|
0.556
|
Higher
|
385
|
305
|
68
|
182
|
Non-formal
|
0
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
Residence
|
Khartoum state
|
283
|
237
|
56
|
132
|
27.03
|
0.001
|
Other states
|
54
|
53
|
13
|
48
|
Outside Sudan
|
65
|
29
|
3
|
14
|
Table 4: Binary logistic regression to show the relation between the overall practice with socio-demographic characteristics, overall knowledge and attitude
Variables
|
Description
|
Overall practice
|
Odd Ratio (95% CI)
|
p-value
|
Poor
|
Good
|
Age in years
|
<30 (Ref. value)
|
507
|
69
|
1
|
|
30-40
|
239
|
23
|
0.955 (0.335- 2.721)
|
0.932
|
41-50
|
97
|
4
|
1.359 (0.459- 4.026)
|
0.580
|
>50
|
39
|
3
|
2.714 (0.649- 11.346)
|
0.171
|
Gender
|
Male
|
479
|
70
|
0.456 (0.287- 0.724)
|
0.001
|
Female (Ref. value)
|
407
|
31
|
1
|
|
Education
level
|
Basic (Ref. value)
|
36
|
7
|
1
|
|
Higher
|
847
|
93
|
6.618 (1.791- 24.462)
|
0.005
|
Non-formal
|
3
|
1
|
11.584 (3.773- 35.568)
|
0.001
|
Residence
|
Khartoum (Ref. value)
|
632
|
76
|
1
|
|
Other states
|
144
|
24
|
01.160 (0.700- 1.923)
|
0.565
|
Outside Sudan
|
110
|
1
|
15.580 (2.046- 118.613)
|
0.008
|
Overall knowledge
|
Poor (Ref. value)
|
802
|
92
|
1
|
|
Good
|
84
|
9
|
1.341 (0.625- 2.876)
|
0.452
|
Overall
attitude
|
Poor (Ref. value)
|
736
|
71
|
1
|
|
Good
|
150
|
30
|
0.557 (0.343- 0.905)
|
0.018
|