COVID-19 - Knowledge, Attitude and Practice among Medical and Non-Medical University Students in Jordan

COVID-19 - Knowledge, Attitude and Practice among Medical and Non-Medical University Students in Jordan

Hamed Alzoubi, Hani Al-shagahin, Mohammad Abu Lubad, Nedal Alnawaiseh, Asma’a Al-Mnayyis, Amin Aqel

The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as a pandemic on the 11th of March 2020. Sincethen, many efforts are being carried out to contain the virus. Knowledge and attitude of people shouldbe directed towards strict preventive practices in order to halt the spread of the virus. The aim of thecurrent cross-sectional study is to assess the knowledge, practice and attitude of university studentsfrom medical and non-medical colleges in Jordan using a structured questionnaire involving a totalnumber of 592 students. A positive response regarding the overall knowledge about the symptoms ofCOVID-19 was observed in more than 90% of the students. In response to the attitude and practice,a good number of students nearly 99.7% agreed that hand washing is necessary for prevention ofinfection whereas 68.4% believed that mask wearing would prevent the infection. Around 6-7% studentsconsidered the virus as a stigma hence would not visit hospital. Also, around 10% students believed thattheir religious beliefs and body immunity might protect them from infection. More dangerously, 20.6%and 19.2% students believed antibiotics and smoking to be a protective measure against the infectionrespectively. Also, 96.8% do avoid hand shaking, 98.8% wash their hands and 93.3% use alcoholic rub,95.8% cough or sneeze in a tissue and dispose it in waste bin, 51% will drink ginger with honey and42.7% eat garlic for infection prevention. The main sources of knowledge were social media, internetand television. No significant difference was noticed between medical and non medical colleges. Thus,there is a need for more detailed and directed measures and awareness campaigns to improve theknowledge, attitude and practice in some critical aspects to contain the virus.

2020

University, Practice, Attitude, Knowledge, students, Jordan, COVID-19

DOI: 10.22207/JPAM.14.1.04

Journal of Pure and Applied Microbiology

Journal of Pure and Applied Microbiology

Microbiology