Determinant factors of Covid-19 standard operating procedure compliance among school management in the Klang Valley, Malaysia

Introduction: In Malaysia, the government's recent decision to reopen schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for the students sitting for essential examinations, has raised the alarm among the public. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has established and enforced a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for education institutions to comply with protecting against transmissions of COVID-19. The school management's ability to keep the students safe from COVID-19 depends on their adherence to infection control measures, which is greatly affected by their knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward COVID-19 SOP compliance. Objective: This study aimed to identify the determinant factors of practice toward COVID-19 SOP compliance among school managements in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, and Putrajaya. Methodology: A total of 740 respondents of school management from schools in Klang Valley were sampled using a multistage sampling method. The respondents were given a self-administered questionnaire designed to elicit sociodemographic, occupational, and lifestyle information, knowledge, attitude, and practice toward COVID-19 SOP compliance. Descriptive statistics, independent t-test, One Way ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and multiple linear regression were used in the study. Results and Discussion: The school management demonstrated good levels of knowledge (91.6%), attitude (94.4%), and practice (82.6%) toward the COVID-19 SOP. The attitude towards COVID-19 SOP compliance has the highest mean score (4.72±0.404). There was a significant mean difference between KAP and monthly income, school location, smoking status, and physical activities (p<0.05). The correlation between KAP showed a significant relationship with the values (r=0.348, p<0.001) and (r=0.358, p=0.003), respectively. Multiple linear regression revealed that seven independent variables significantly predicted practice toward SOP compliance, which were knowledge (β=0.332, SE=0.078), attitude (β=0.260, SE=0.064), age (β=-0.080, SE=0.036), source of knowledge (Ministry of Health (MOH): β=0.187, SE=0.075; MOE: β=0.130, SE=0.053; social media: β=0.137, SE=0.060), physical activities (β=0.121, SE=0.042), experience in managing infectious diseases (β=0.087, SE=0.039), exposure to infectious disease (β=0.103, SE=0.048) and type of infectious diseases exposed (Tuberculosis: β=0.123, SE=0.068; Measles: β=0.110, SE=0.046). Conclusion: It is implied that school management in Klang Valley complies with the SOP issued by the MOH and MOE due to their high level of understanding, proper attitude, and positive behaviour toward COVID- 19. Thus, school management is responsible for managing SOPs in the school area. School management must be able to assess the risks and execute appropriate actions to maintain a conducive and safe environment. The school management and public authorities may use social media and e-government platforms effectively during the COVID-19 epidemic to increase public participation in preventive behaviour.

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