Filipino Rehabilitation Practitioners’ COVID-19 knowledge, practice and attitude: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: The rehabilitation team, consisting of physiatrists, physical and occupational therapists, and speech pathologists, faces heightened risk of COVID-19 exposure because of treatment practices in rehabilitation settings.

Aim: The study aimed to assess the knowledge, practices and attitudes of rehabilitation professionals in treating COVID-19 patients and to determine potential associations with respondents’ demographic factors (e.g., age, gender, type of profession).

Setting: The study was conducted in the Philippines.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from June 2021 to July 2021. Researchers employed snowballing and purposive homogenous convenient sampling methods. Participants completed a 31-item online questionnaire via Google Forms.

Results: A total of 410 rehabilitation professionals participated in the study. The total mean scores for knowledge, practices and attitudes are 41.14 ± 3.16, 104.54 ± 33.65 and 37.13 ± 3.55, respectively which were considered adequate. However, only 9.8% (n = 40) professional was actively treating COVID-19 patients with analysis of variance indicated that age, type of profession and gender did not significantly impact COVID-19 knowledge. However, age (p = 0.005) and type of profession (p = 0.004) were found to influence COVID-19 practices, with physiatrists exhibiting higher adherence. There was a strong positive correlation between age and positive COVID-19 attitudes (p < 0.000).

Conclusion: Filipino rehabilitation professionals have positive attitude, adequate knowledge and skills about COVID-19.

Contribution: The study provides information to modify training courses and curricula to further improve the knowledge and practices related to COVID-19.