Coping during COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Community: Religious Attitudes, Practices and Associated Factors

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many societies' life aspects and activities including social and Islamic practices; more attention should be given to investigate the interaction between Islamic worships and the spread of the disease. Here, we performed a cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire to assess the preventive Islamic attitudes and practices during the COVID-19 lockdown period from the Saudi publics' perspectives. Mann-Whitney, Kruskal and logistic regression tests were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that most participants had positive Islamic attitudes and practices. However, elders and males were less obeyed to preventive measures during performing worship (p < 0.05). While younger, females and not married were less obeyed when dealing with COVID-19 related death (p < 0.05). Even though, elders were less likely to have poor social and Islamic practices concerning adherence to preventive measures during the pandemic (OR = 0.38; 95% CI: 0.176-0.816) than younger. Furthermore, males, Saudi participants, lower education level, lower Islamic attitudes scores were more likely to have poor social and Islamic practices concerning adherence to preventive measures during the pandemic (OR = 1.65; 95% CI: 1.126-2.421; OR = 1.57; 95% CI: 1.067-2.322; OR = 3.09; 95% CI: 1.721-5.563; and OR = 1.89; 95% CI: 1.309-2.753, respectively), than their corresponding targeted counterparts. Thus, despite the high preventative perceptions of Islamic attitudes and practices of the Saudi community, our study highlighted some risk groups with less preventative practices. Thus, targeted health education interventions are highly recommended for these risk groups to enhance the commitment to government instructions.

Automated summary

The study found that most Saudi participants had positive Islamic attitudes and practices during the COVID-19 lockdown, but elders and males were less likely to adhere to preventive measures during worship, while younger individuals, females, and unmarried individuals were less likely to adhere to preventive measures when dealing with COVID-19 related death. Despite the overall positive Islamic attitudes and practices, targeted health education interventions are recommended for specific risk groups to improve adherence to preventive measures.