Fear of COVID-19 in dentistry students: an evaluation of their knowledge and practices

Background: This study's objective was to analyse the fear of COVID-19 among the dentistry student and the knowledge, attitude, and practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: It was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study. An online survey form was designed and distributed to undergraduate dental students via google forms. A previously validated fear of coronavirus scale (FCV-19S) was used to analyse the fear. SPSS 21 was used for data entry and data analysis. Descriptive statistics were applied to calculate the frequencies of different variables. Independent t-test was executed to determine the difference of FCV-19S among gender and between public and private dental colleges. ANOVA was carried out to evaluate the difference in fear among different levels of BDS. Results: Data of 983 individuals from different dental colleges in Karachi, Pakistan, have been analysed. The majority of the students were females in 1st year and private sector dental colleges (P<0.001). The mean FCV-19S was 20.99 ± 6.48, which is higher than the cut-off value ?15. A highly significant difference in mean FCV-19S among the different variables has been observed (P<0.001). A significant difference has been observed among the gender (t (932) = -5.40, p<0.001) in all 4-years of BDS. Conclusion: Despite good knowledge and following the COVID-19 guidelines, fear is prevalent among the students.