Assessment of impact of media, perceived knowledge, fear, and preventive measures associated with coronavirus disease-19 among dental undergraduates

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of media, perceived knowledge, fear, and preventive measures on coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) among dental undergraduates. Materials and Methods: A validated 19-item self-administered questionnaire was disseminated to dental students pursuing dentistry from the various academic institutions across India. Participants were enrolled using convenience sampling, and students disseminated the online questionnaire to their contacts using snowball sampling by WhatsApp and E-mail. Data were subjected to the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 21.0, Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.). Descriptive statistics in the frequency and percentage were expressed. The Chi-square test was used to draw the comparison between categorical variables. Results: Out of 501 students, 79.3% females and 20.7% males participated. 54.7% relied on print and social media outlet to receive updated information on pandemic. Greater than 50% respondents had high perceived knowledge about COVID-19. More than one-third respondents felt anxious and feared of contracting infection from asymptomatic carriers. Female students adhered better when compared to males in practicing preventive measures to avoid COVID-19. Conclusion: Exposure to media could be responsible for adopting the preventives measures to avoid COVID-19. Higher perceived knowledge among students might be because of extensive viewing and reading about COVID-19. Certainly students expressed concern of contracting infection accidently and valued their health.