The Impact of Media on Public Health Awareness Concerning the Use of Natural Remedies Against the COVID-19 Outbreak in Saudi Arabia

Figures & data

Table 1 Demographic Data of Study Participants Who Have Seen the Awareness Videos, Saudi Arabia (n=692)

Demographic Variable	No	%
Region
Central region	208	30.1%
Eastern region	61	8.8%
North region	52	7.5%
Southern region	43	6.2%
Western region	328	47.4%
Nationality
Saudi	662	95.7%
Non-Saudi	30	4.3%
Gender
Male	162	23.4%
Female	530	76.6%
Age group
Young adults	404	58.4%
Middle-aged adults	260	37.6%
Older adults	28	4.0%
Educational level
Less than high school	16	2.3%
High school	101	14.6%
Bachelor’s degree	396	57.2%
Post graduate degree	179	25.9%
Chronic disease history
Yes	216	31.2%
No	476	68.8%

Table 2 Frequency of Watching Awareness Videos to Correct for the Medical Information of Herbs Role During COVID-19 Pandemic, Its Source, and Effect (n=692)

Awareness Video Data	No	%
Watching awareness videos
Yes (n=692)	692	55.4%
No (n=608)	557	44.6%
Media platforms (Source of information)
Social media (WhatsApp, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram)	546	78.9%
Television	103	14.9%
Internet (Websites)	43	6.2%
The source for the awareness videos
Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH)	495	71.5%
WHO in the Middle East	94	13.6%
Do not know what the source is	103	14.9%
The effect of watching awareness videos on participants’ beliefs and changing the use of natural remedies as protective measures (Stopping their use to fight COVID-19 infection).
Yes	481	69.5%
To some extent	169	24.4%
No effect	42	6.1%

Figure 1 Herbs and natural products that were stopped used after watching the awareness videos.

Table 3 Association Between Demographic and Effect of Watching Awareness Videos on Changing the Use of Herbs or the Natural Products During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Demographic Data	Effect of Watching Awareness Videos on Changing the Use of Herbs or the Natural Products During the COVID-19 Pandemic						P-value
	No Effect		To Some Extent (Moderate Effect)		Yes (High Effect)
	No	%	No	%	No	%
Region							0.044*
Central region	10	4.8%	57	27.4%	141	67.8%
Eastern region	8	13.1%	17	27.9%	36	59.0%
North region	1	1.9%	19	36.5%	32	61.5%
Southern region	3	7.0%	9	20.9%	31	72.1%
Western region	20	6.1%	67	20.4%	241	73.5%
Nationality							0.983
Saudi	40	6.0%	162	24.5%	460	69.5%
Non-Saudi	2	6.7%	7	23.3%	21	70.0%
Gender							0.093
Male	9	5.6%	50	30.9%	103	63.6%
Female	33	6.2%	119	22.5%	378	71.3%
Age group							0.425
Young adults	24	5.9%	90	22.3%	290	71.8%
Middle aged adults	16	6.2%	69	26.5%	175	67.3%
Older adults	2	7.1%	10	35.7%	16	57.1%
Educational level							0.015*
Less than high school	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	16	100.0%
High school	6	5.9%	24	23.8%	71	70.3%
Bachelor’s degree	23	5.8%	87	22.0%	286	72.2%
Post graduate degree	13	7.3%	58	32.4%	108	60.3%
Chronic disease history							0.916
Yes	14	6.5%	54	25.0%	148	68.5%
No	28	5.9%	115	24.2%	333	70.0%

Notes: * Pis significant at < 0.05.