Knowledge of the Mpox virus and conspiracy beliefs and their association with self-confidence in managing the virus among Israeli orthopedic surgeons

ABSTRACT

In 2022, the Mpox viral outbreak signaled a global public health emergency. Infectious disease management and prevention are crucial tasks for healthcare workers. In their line of work, orthopedic surgeons could come across cases of the Mpox virus. The aim of the present study was to explore orthopedic surgeons’ knowledge of the Mpox virus, their conspiracy beliefs regarding emerging viral infections, and their self-confidence in managing the Mpox virus. In this cross-sectional survey, 137 orthopedic surgeons completed an online questionnaire. The participants had low knowledge of the Mpox virus, providing on average 11.5 correct answers (SD = 2.68) of a possible 21. In addition, the participants tended to express moderate conspiracy beliefs and to have low self-confidence in managing the Mpox virus. Age 30 or older, a higher knowledge level, and lower conspiracy beliefs predicted greater self-confidence in managing the Mpox virus. In addition, a negative association was found between knowledge of the Mpox virus and conspiracy beliefs. Arab and younger orthopedic surgeons expressed stronger conspiracy beliefs. Interventions should include introduction of material regarding emerging tropical infections in medical curricula and in-service training programs. In addition, special attention should be paid to younger and Arab orthopedic surgeons, as these subgroups may endorse higher conspiracy beliefs.

KEYWORDS:

• Mpox virus
• knowledge
• conspiracy beliefs
• self-confidence
• orthopedic surgeons

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Informed consent statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data availability statement

The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.