Document Type : Review
Authors
1 College of Dentistry, University of Thi-Qar Thi-Qar, Iraq
2 department of Pharmacology and Toxicology /College of Pharmacy / University of Thi-qar, Thi-qar, 64001, Iraq
Abstract
Abstract: Covid-19 has affected many countries around the world. Medical science students are the future public health staff who can provide the citizens with correct virological information. The study aimed to assess private medical sciences students' knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) regarding COVID-19 and to draw conclusions about their competence as community counselors regarding the pandemic. An online pre-tested questionnaire includes the study variables on: student demographics (5), COVID-19 information sources, student knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Descriptive and inferential statistics of students KAPs and demographic characteristics were studied. A p-value of p ≤ 0.05 was considered significant of the 383 participants, 53.5% were male, more than half were 20-25 years old, while a proportion of nursing students were over 25 years old. 66.8% of the students were not vaccinated. A total of 50.4% were infected. 51.7% got their information about the virus from a variety of sources, mostly the Internet, and rarely from scientific or official sources. Students from different faculties showed sufficient knowledge and good practices, although their attitudes were average and did not differ significantly among the groups (p > 0.05). The students' knowledge and practices were adequate and varied significantly with their demographic characteristics. Their attitudes were average and not statistically different. Older nursing students (25 years and over) were more knowledgeable and better practiced. Students should rely on scientific and official sources to improve their KAPs and become competent Covid-19 advisors. The low rates of positive attitudes could be attributed to student’s beliefs and social habits.
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