Knowledge, attitude and practices towards COVID-19 among higher education students in India: a cross sectional study.

Autor: Padmanaban S; Department of Education, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, 610 005 India., Rajendran P; Department of Education, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, 610 005 India., Davis P; Health Centre, Central University of Tamil Nadu, Thiruvarur, 610 005 India.; Department of ENT, Sri Venkateswaraa Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Puducherry, Ariyur 605012 India., Velayutham P; Department of ENT, Sri Venkateswaraa Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Puducherry, Ariyur 605012 India.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Zeitschrift fur Gesundheitswissenschaften = Journal of public health [Z Gesundh Wiss] 2022; Vol. 30 (7), pp. 1661-1673. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 May 13.
DOI: 10.1007/s10389-021-01561-7
Abstrakt: Aim: This study explored the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of higher education students towards COVID-19. In addition, this study analysed the association of socio-demographic variables with KAP apart from finding the relationship between KAP.
Subject and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted in India. Study participants were selected using a convenient sampling method from various higher educational institutions across 22 states in India. Data was collected using self-administered close-ended questionnaires via Google forms. The data were analysed using frequencies and percentage for descriptive purposes. A chi-square test was used to determine the association between groups, and correlation analysis was used to illustrate the significant relationship between KAP.
Results: The majority, that is, 65.5% of students possess a high level of knowledge about the disease. It was noteworthy that 71.0% of them had a positive attitude towards COVID-19 and 66.7% of them exhibited desirable practices to mitigate COVID-19. Furthermore, the results showed a significant association between KAP and some of the socio-demographic variables studied. Social media emerged as a vital source of information regarding COVID-19 for the majority (81.0%) of students. Also, a strong significant positive correlation was observed between KAP variables.
Conclusion: One-fourth of the students demonstrated only low and moderate levels of knowledge, negative attitude and undesirable practices in preventing COVID-19. The implications suggesting various approaches to enhance KAP to moderate the spread of COVID-19 among the students were recommended to aid the higher educational institutions.
Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests.
(© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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