Attitude about the role of media in increasing awareness regarding COVID-19 and practicing related protection measures among a sample of Kurdish people Iraq

Amanj Yassin Hmadamin¹, Kareem Fattah Aziz², Khaleed Mohammed Shaikhah³, Goran Abubaker Osman⁴, Hamdia Mirkhan Ahmed⁵

¹Assistant lecturer, MSc in Pediatric Nursing, College of Nursing, Hawler Medical University, Erbil, Kurdistan Region - ²Assistant professor, PhD in Community Health Nursing, College of Nursing, Hawler Medical University, Erbil, Kurdistan Region - ³MSc in Pediatric Nursing, College of Nursing, Hawler Medical University, Erbil, Kurdistan Region - ⁴Lecturer, MSc in Adult Nursing, College of Nursing, Hawler Medical University, Erbil, Kurdistan Region - ⁵Assistant professor, PhD in Maternity Nursing, College of Health Sciences, Hawler Medical University.

Introduction: Since December 2019, the (COVID-19) epidemic has swept the world, causing widespread burden and increasingly hospitalizations. While public health and healthcare officers rushed to identify and incorporate the unfold of the virus, information was spreading uninhibited over traditional and social media program at a patently rapid pace. The objectives of the study were to 1) assess the attitude of Kurdish people regarding role of media in awareness regarding COVID-19 and practicing protection measures by them, 2) find out the association of their attitude with their sociodemographic characteristics. 

Materials and methods: it is a descriptive, cross-sectional study that started from 1-3-2020 to 1-6-2020. The sample size was included, 420 participants. Data were collected through a distributed Google-based questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of three main parts: socio-demographic characteristics, the role of mass media for prevention of COVID 19 and practicing of protection measures. The data were analyzed through the application of SPSS program version 23. Frequency, percentage, and chi-square tests were used. 

Results: The majority of participants depended on internet and social  media to obtain information about COVID-19 and they are agreed that media has role on increasing awareness. Media encourage the majority of them to practice protection measures at least some of them. There was significant association between sociodemographic characteristics of sample with their attitude and practice regarding COVID-19.

Conclusion: Media, specially social media have important roles in increasing awareness and obtaining information, regarding COVID-19 and encouraging people to practice the protection measures in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.