Atopic Dermatitis - Knowledge and Attitude of Primary Health Care Providers, Majmaah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

BACKGROUND Atopic dermatitis (AD) is common in Saudi Arabia. Level of primary health care providers’ (PHCPs) knowledge about the disease is inadequate. We wanted to determine the knowledge and attitude of primary health care providers (PHCPs) in Majmaah, Saudi Arabia, toward atopic dermatitis (AD). METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted in Majmaah, Saudi Arabia, from August to October 2020. The data was collected from eight primary healthcare centres in the city by a pre-tested questionnaire. The data was analysed using SPSS 26.0. Pearsonchi-square / Fisher Exact test were applied to observe associations between qualitative variables. A P-value of < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. RESULTS The data was collected from 23 PHCPs. The qualification obtained by most of the PHCPs (78.3 %) was Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), 17.4 % were diploma holders and only one had master’s degree. The average AD score out of 8 items was 5.95 + 1.18. The minimum and maximum scores were 3 and 8. Converting the scores to percentages, the participants who had good knowledge about AD were 17 (73.91 %). Five (21.74 %) had average knowledge and only one (4.35 %) had poor knowledge. CONCLUSIONS The level of atopic dermatitis knowledge of PHCPs in Majmaah, Saudi Arabia, was found to be adequate, whereas the attitude was observed to be negative. Focus-group discussions, tailored sessions, or continuous medical education programs can be conducted to discuss the management guidelines on this condition with the PHCPs. KEY WORDS Atopic Dermatitis, Primary Healthcare Centres, Knowledge, Attitude, Saudi Arabia