Parents’ knowledge and attitude towards COVID-19 in children: A Jordanian Study

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had a rapid global spread. All individuals of all age groups are at risk of COVID-19. This study aims to describe the knowledge and attitude of Jordanian parents regarding COVID-19 in children, including clinical signs of the disease, modes of transmission and protection measures. Method: A cross-section study amongst Jordanian parents was conducted. The size of the sample was 810. Information regarding the clinical signs of the disease, modes of transmission, protection measures against COVID-19 and satisfaction with governmental measures was collected. Results: The findings indicate that the parents had a good understanding of the clinical signs, mode of transmission and protection measures and were satisfied with governmental measures. According to the parents’ responses, the resource they used the most about COVID-19 was social media (78%), followed by news channels. Many correctly stated that fever was a clinical sign, followed by cough (77%). Almost 90% of the parents have an appropriate attitude towards companioning children within crowds. Generally, people are more susceptible to the virus within crowds. Conclusions: In summary, we believe that the findings reported here are important for understanding the clinical characteristics and vertical transmission potential of COVID-19 infection in children, from the perspective of parents. The knowledge of parents about COVID-19 in children was considered good in the case of most parents. This knowledge helps with creating educational programs to increase awareness for areas that have weaknesses.