Evaluation of knowledge and attitudes of Somali nationals living in Ankara towards CCOVID-19

This study was conducted as descriptive research to assess the knowledge and attitudes of Somali nationals living in Ankara. The population of the study consists of people of Somali nationality living in Ankara. The study group consists of people who volunteered to participate in the study, using the non-probability sampling method. The questionnaire used in the study consists of two parts with a total of 36 questions. The questionnaires were completed in a face-to-face interview between October 2021 and April 2022 and the study was completed with 516 volunteers. It was found that the majority of Somali nationals who participated in the study were on average 25 years old, had completed their undergraduate studies, were male, single, students and had been in Turkey for an average of 2 years for educational purposes. In the study, age, gender, marital status, occupation, presence of chronic disease, thought of belonging to the risk group of COVID -19, status of the disease COVID -19, course of the disease COVID -19, status of their relatives suffering from COVID -19 were investigated. It was found that there was a statistically significant relationship(p≤0.05) between the loss of relatives due to 19 and their knowledge and attitude towards COVID -19. As a result of the research, it was found that the majority of Somali nationals living in Ankara who participated in the research are sufficiently informed about COVID -19 and have a positive attitude. It is expected that the information, warning and education programs about COVID 19 to be conducted by the government and/or health authorities will help to improve the knowledge of Somali nationals about COVID -19 and develop a positive attitude. Keywords: Attitudes, Covid-19, epidemic, health, knowledge, pandemic.