Assessing Physicians' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices in Occupational Disease Diagnosis and History Taking

Background and Aim: Oman's rapid industrial development has resulted in changing occupational exposures, emphasizing the importance of enhancing physicians' proficiency in occupational history-taking and disease identification. This study sought to evaluate physicians' knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) in diagnosing occupational diseases and collecting occupational histories, while also identifying perceived barriers to effective recognition and reporting. Method: Data were collected utilizing a structured, self-administered questionnaire adapted from a validated instrument that assesses physicians' knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) concerning occupational diseases. The survey was conducted among internal medicine and family medicine physicians at a tertiary academic hospital. Result: Of 252 eligible physicians, 146 (57.9%) responded. Moderate levels were most common for knowledge (45.2%) and attitude (65.1%), while practice was most frequently high (45.9%). Prior training strongly predicted high knowledge (aOR = 7.23, 95% CI: 2.99-17.49; p < 0.001). Family Medicine physicians were more likely to achieve high knowledge (aOR = 2.42, 95% CI: 1.03-5.72; p = 0.043) but less likely to report high attitude scores (aOR = 0.32, 95% CI: 0.14-0.76; p = 0.010). Training also showed non-significant trends toward improved attitude and practice. Conclusions: Occupational health training is strongly linked to improved knowledge, with indications of benefits for attitude and practice. Specialty differences highlight the need to integrate occupational medicine into curricula and strengthen institutional support to enhance recognition of occupational diseases.