Abstract

ESQUIVEL RIVEROS, Delia Noemí  and  BORJA GONZALEZ, Marina Angélica. Level of knowledge of the population over 15 years of age about preventive measures adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic in Paraguay. Rev. cient. cienc. soc. [online]. 2021, vol.3, n.2, pp.39-48. ISSN 2708-0412.  https://doi.org/10.53732/rccsociales/03.02.2021.39.

The objective was to determine the level of knowledge of the population over 15 years of age about the preventive measures adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic and its relationship with the sociodemographic characteristics in Asunción, Paraguay. Observational, analytical cross-sectional study, with convenience sampling in which 394 people from a group of researchers, outside the health area, participated. The questionnaire was prepared based on prevention protocols established by the Ministry of Public Health and sent through WhatsApp. The results were expressed as a frequency distribution. The Chi2 test was used to associate the variables, at a significance level of <0.05. 31.7% of the respondents had a high level of knowledge, 50.8% intermediate and 17.5% low. Women presented a better level of knowledge about preventive measures (p = 0.0059, intermediate: 50.2% and high: 36.1%) as well as those who had a higher educational level (p = 0.0021, intermediate: 50.6% and high: 33.5%). The levels of knowledge found on a medium and high scale in the studied population are encouraging and it could be interpreted that the communication strategies used by the national authorities have been well understood and accepted by the population.

Keywords : Preventive measures; hand washing; masks; social distancing; COVID-19; pandemic.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )