Willingness to Test for COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study on the Population in the Ha’il Region, KSA

Aims: To measure the degree to which the Ha’il community is willing to test for COVID-19 and assess the possible factors that may influence their decision.

Study Design: Descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in Ḥaʼil Community. And the data was collected from October to November of 2020.

Methodology: Participants comprised of both Saudi and non-Saudi males and females who were 18 years or older and living within the Ha’il region. Participants were recruited via convenience sampling by distributing the electronic questionnaire throughout various social media platforms.

Results: Of the 664 participants, 80.9% reported their willingness to test for COVID-19 if they had olfactory dysfunction with, 80.3% reporting their willingness to test if they had difficulty breathing. However, only 61.7% of participants said that they would be willing to be tested if they had been in contact with someone who had tested positive, whilst they themselves were asymptomatic. More than half of the participants reported that they were confident in the results (81%). Bio-demographic factors that influence the degree of public trust were as follows; females (83.8%); living with others (81.8%); history of not gathering with more than 10 people outside their household (87.9%).

Conclusion: Our finding revealed that the vast majority of the Ha’il community are willing to test for COVID-19, with a high proportion of females, participants who are living with others and participants who do not usually mix with more than 10 people at the same time showing a greater degree of trust in the results of the COVID-19 test. Furthermore, when participants had experienced olfactory dysfunction or\and breathing difficulties themselves, they tended to exhibit greater trust in the COVID-19 test results.