Knowledge, attitude, and practice towards coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among medical students: A cross-sectional study

• Main Authors: Sonam Maheshwari, Puneet Kumar Gupta, Richa Sinha, Pravesh Rawat
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2020-01-01
• Series: Journal of Acute Disease
• Subjects: covid-19; noval coronavirus; knowledge; attitude; practice; social distancing; lockdown
• Online Access: http://www.jadweb.org/article.asp?issn=2221-6189;year=2020;volume=9;issue=3;spage=100;epage=104;aulast=Maheshwari

Objective: To assess knowledge, attitude, and practice of medical students towards coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: A self-designed questionnaire was developed and given to the students of a government medical college in Uttarakhand. The demographics, mean knowledge, attitude, and practice of the participants were investigated, and the scores were calculated. t-test and ANOVA were used for statistical analysis. Results: Out of the total participants (n=354), 50.3% were male and 54.5% were 21-23 years. Almost all the participants (96.6%) increase the frequency of washing hands under the influence of COVID-19. Although no significant relationship was found between different religions, age-categories in terms of knowledge, the participants who were aged 21-23 years had higher knowledge. In addition, gender had a significant impact on practice scores (P<0.05) while no demographic variable was found to have a significant relation with attitude score (P>0.05). Conclusions: The majority of the participants had good knowledge, positive attitude, and sufficient practice. Females and males have significantly different practices. Although the results are very positive, it is suggested that people should continue to strengthen knowledge, attitude, and practice towards COVID-19, so that India can win the battle against the disease.