Healthcare Professionals' Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs in Aseer, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) are initiatives designed to reduce the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). ASPs enhance antimicrobial use, prevent errors, maintain guidelines, and monitor usage to reduce AMR. Objective: This study aims to shed light on healthcare professionals' (HCPs) knowledge, experience, and attitudes regarding ASPs. Methods: This quantitative cross-sectional study, approved by the Research Ethics Committee at King Khalid University (ECM#2022-2023) was conducted in the Aseer region, Saudi Arabia. A validated self-administered online survey was distributed through various social media channels using snowball sampling between September 2022 and June 2024. The data from the online survey was analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics. Results: The sample included 388 participants. Just over half (53.1%) were male, and the remainder (46.9%) were female. Although a slight majority (54.9%) reported familiarity with ASPs, a professional practice gap was found; only 143 (36.9%) of the participants had direct experience working with such programs, while 64.7% reported inadequate training opportunities as a barrier to effective ASP implementation followed by lack of resources, lack of internal policies and guidelines, time constraints and lack of manpower (54.1%, 52.1%, 48.2% and 45.9%, respectively). Despite the high level of awareness across both genders and all HCPs, only half of the participants correctly identified that cutting antibiotic costs is not the primary goal of ASPs. There were significant differences among participants' views toward repeated education and online resources (p = 0.042 and p = 0.024, respectively). Conclusion: While HCPs have a good understanding of AMR, a professional practice gap was found. Thus, the study recommends offering ongoing education and training programs for HCPs. Addressing implementation obstacles, such as resource limitations and unclear guidelines, is also essential.