People's knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) are a part of the public's emergency response capability and play an important role in controlling public health emergencies. This study aims to evaluate Shanghai residents' KAP and the response ability regarding public health emergency events in China. An anonymous questionnaire investigation including demographics, socioeconomic characteristics and KAP was conducted through the online survey system from April 19 to April 30 2020. Of the 1243 people who completed the questionnaire, 1122 respondents (90.3%) had a good, positive attitude, while only 46.8% of participants had good knowledge, 46.2% performed well in the aspect of practice and 19.5% of residents had good response capability. It was found that men (OR:1.57,95% CI: 1.16-2.13), and people with 10 to 12 years or longer than 12 years of education (OR: 2.08,95% CI: 1.14-3.92; OR: 3.56,95% CI: 1.96-6.72) had the best public emergency response capability. Positive attitudes may be significantly associated with good practice (OR: 1.76, 95% CI: 1.18-2.64). Internet and television were the major media for people to acquire knowledge and skills. A lack of knowledge, poor perception and poor emergency response ability were found in Shanghai residents. Target intervention should be developed and implemented to improve the knowledge and skills of people for dealing with public emergency events.
Keywords: attitude and practice; emergency capability; knowledge; public health emergencies; residents.