Background: COVID-19 is one of the recent emerging infectious diseases that were progressively declared a pandemic affecting the whole globe. Such a disease encompassed several misconceptions and conspiracy theories. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and pattern of conspiracy theories and determine associated factors and compliance with preventive measures. Methods: We conducted an analytical cross-sectional study utilizing a self-administered questionnaire on conspiracy theories and ideas. We did data analysis with the IBM SPSS version 21 was u. A p-value of <0.05 was considered for statistical significance. Descriptive statistics were performed, and we analyzed the association between variables using the Chi-square test or Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: The current study got 399 responses. We found a 35.8% prevalence of conspiracy beliefs about COVID-19 among participants. The top 4 conspiracy theory beliefs were: COVID 19 was exaggerated to make significant changes in the world's social order, COVID-19 was a secret biological weapon, big pharmaceutical companies have known about COVID-19 for a while and COVID-19 was made up to keep people's attention so that special agencies could change the world economy. Believing in conspiracy theories was significantly associated with low acceptance and compliance with preventive measures and less COVID-19 vaccine adoption. There was no difference between conspiracy believers and non-believers in regard to sociodemographic factors. Conclusion: This study finding suggest that there is still a need for continuing efforts to raise awareness and education programs to educate people, burst myths and conspiracies, and incite vaccination adoption.
Keywords: COVID-19, Conspiracy beliefs, Conspiracy Theories, Trust,
Preventive Measures