Knowledge, attitudes and preventive behaviors toward COVID-19 among school students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Background: Coronavirus is highly contagious with no known effective treatment yet. However, being well-informed about the disease and how it spreads and adopting preventative measures can stop or slow its transmission. Objectives: This study examines school students' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors about COVID-19 in Riyadh. Method: Students aged 12 to 18 participated in this cross-sectional study from different schools in Riyadh from April to June 2022. The data was collected through an online survey using a pre-validated Arabic questionnaire. Results: Among 253 students, 91.3% showed a high level of knowledge about the transmission of COVID-19. Furthermore, students reported that fever 94.5%, loss of taste and smell 92.5%, and headache 87.7% were the top three common symptoms. The older versus younger OR=0.306, 95%CI: (0.092-1.024), p<0.05, and secondary school students versus intermediate school students OR=0.243, 95%CI: (0.072-0.819) p<0.02 predicted the high knowledge score. 69.2% of students favor informing the health authorities when they have symptoms, and 71.9% agreed to be isolated if they contacted an infected person. The female students were keener than male students to practice the preventive measures (P-value <0.0001). Social media was the primary source of information. Conclusion: Most participants were well-informed, held rational attitudes, and took preventive measures against COVID-19. Respondents learned about COVID-19 via social media, demonstrating its positive influence on public health awareness. Our study may not reflect Riyadh schoolchildren's COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and preventative behaviors. It provides essential information to assist health organizations in creating and implementing preventive initiatives.