Knowledge on Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) and Practice of COVID-19 Prevention Among Students in the Health Campus

Abstract

Introduction: Knowledge of COVID-19 and the practices towards the prevention of COVID-19 are crucial especially among health sciences students who are required to do a clinical placement at a hospital. This study aimed to assess the knowledge on COVID-19 and practice of COVID-19 prevention among university students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted via a web-based survey. A total of 273 students of the medical, dental and health sciences programs were invited to participate in this study using stratified random sampling methods. A set of questionnaires developed by WHO training material for identification, prevention, response, and control of COVID-19 was used. Results: Most of the respondents were fourth year students (37.4%) age of 22 years old. The mean of total knowledge score was 23.14 ± 1.50. The overall mean score for the practice towards prevention of COVID-19 was 30.06 ± 3.03. The findings revealed that 71.1% students had good knowledge while 28.9% of them had poor knowledge regarding COVID-19.  Half (58.6%) of the students have good practice and 41.4% had poor practice of COVID-19 prevention. There is no significant correlation of knowledge on COVID-19 and the practice of COVID-19 prevention. Conclusion: This study emphasizes the need for continuous education and a regular reminder to the student population involved in the clinical area regarding infectious disease prevention.