Abstract
Background: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak poses critical challenges to the practice of healthcare. There is a lack of available descriptive studies pertaining to the attitudes and hygiene practices towards COVID-19 among chiropractors in South Africa. Aim: This study investigated the attitudes and hygiene practices of chiropractors in South Africa in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to hygiene guidelines released by the Allied Health Professions Council of South Africa (AHPCSA) with the objectives to determine the demographic profile of chiropractic doctors in South Africa, establish chiropractors attitudes towards COVID-19 and recommended hygiene practices, and to document the personal and clinical hygiene practices that chiropractic doctors were using in private practice. Method: A cross sectional descriptive study making use of an online contextual questionnaire was used to collect data. The questionnaire was intended to collect and describe objective data such as demographic characteristics, attitudes towards COVID-19 and hygiene practices, the types of personal protective equipment used in practice as well as other forms of hygiene practices implemented in private practice to determining the type and frequency of chiropractic doctors' attitudes and hygiene practices related to COVID-19. Results: Seventy-four percent of participants strongly agreed to it being necessary to comply with hygiene guidelines set out by the AHPCSA. Alcohol based hand rub, disposable surgical facemasks and scrub tops were favoured items of personal protective equipment. The chiropractic treatment bed was regarded as an area for disinfection between patients over other areas; and social distancing within a practice setting was maintained by 75% of the sample population...
M.Tech. (Chiropractic)