Knowledge, Attitude and Preparedness to Respond to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Among the Bordered Population of Northern Thailand in the Early Period of the Outbreak: A Cross-Sectional Study
Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is recognized as a major threat to human health in 2020, particularly for those living in China and its neighboring countries, including people living near the border of southern China in northern Thailand. The study aimed to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes, and preparedness to respond to COVID-19 among people in poor economic conditions and with low education levels living near the border of China in northern Thailand. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to collect information from participants who were living close to the outbreak of COVID-19 in northern Thailand. Five districts located along the border were the study settings. Three villages were randomly selected in each district. All people who were aged 18 years and over in the selected villages were invited to participate in the study. A questionnaire was developed and used to collect information, and it required 20 minutes to complete. Chi-square tests were used to detect the association between variables at a significance level of α=0.05. Results: A total of 520 participants were recruited into the analysis; 61.5% were females, the average age was 45.2 years, 72.9% were married, and 88.4% were of Thai nationality. Regarding COVID-19, 73.4% had poor knowledge of disease prevention and control, 28.5% had poor attitudes toward disease prevention and control, and only 13.6% had strong preparedness skills to prevent and control the disease. Several factors were associated with poor knowledge, poor attitudes and poor preparedness skills in response to the epidemic of COVID-2019, such as education, occupation, income, and channel of receiving public health information. Conclusion: It is critical to improve the knowledge, attitudes and preparedness skills of those living close to the COVID-19 epidemic area in northern Thailand to maximize effective control measures; meanwhile, further studies are needed on these topics.Funding Statement: The study was supported by the Center of Excellence for Hill Tribe Health Research, Mae Fah Laung University.Declaration of Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.Ethics Approval Statement: All study materials, including research protocols, were approved by the Mae Fah Laung Human Research Committee (No. 13-2563). All participants were asked to sign the informed consent form before their data were collected.