A cross sectional study of knowledge, attitude and practices of medical students regarding COVID-19 in Northern India

Prerna Ahuja 1, Jaspreet Kaur 1, Deepika Puri 2, Pravin Meshram 3, Prithpal Singh Matreja 4 * , Jayballabh Kumar 1
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1 Department of Physiology, Teerthanker Mahaveer Medical College and Research Center, Teerthanker Mahaveer University, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
2 Department of Physiology, Goverment Medical College and Hospital, Haldwani, Uttarakhand, India
3 Department of Community Medicine, Teerthanker Mahaveer Medical College and Research Center, Teerthanker Mahaveer University, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
4 Department of Pharmacology, Teerthanker Mahaveer Medical College and Research Center, Teerthanker Mahaveer University, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
* Corresponding Author
J CLIN MED KAZ, Volume 20, Issue 2, pp. 26-32. https://doi.org/10.23950/jcmk/13139
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ABSTRACT

Background: Practicing preventive measures essential to control the spread of infection and possessing the required knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) towards COVID-19 could possibly affect the behavior and perception of medical students towards the disease which must be observed and studied. Studies have been conducted to assess medical students’ willingness to volunteer in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but not many have focused on their level of pandemic preparedness and eligibility to volunteer. Our study explored the knowledge, attitude and practices of medical students, and also helps to develop effective action plans regarding the reopening of medical colleges in India.
Material and methods: This cross-sectional observational study was done in a tertiary care center in North India on Medical and Dental undergraduate students spanning across all professional years after they gave a written informed consent. A self-designed questionnaire was established based on published literature. The study questionnaire consisted of four sections - socio-demographics of students, knowledge, attitudes/beliefs and practice-based statements about COVID-19.
Results: 238 students participated in this study and for majority (79.4%) of students the major source of information for gaining knowledge towards COVID-19 was social media. All students were aware that COVID-19 spreads through droplet infection, 94.1% responded that people with chronic illnesses were at high-risk of infection and 91.2% and 88.2% reported that fever and dry cough were the main symptoms of COVID-19 respectively. The majority of students disagreed that they would avoid isolation (n=147), and the students also disagreed on aspect of keeping the report confidential if a near one is affected (n=140). Though there were no statistically significant differences (p<0.05) in the level of knowledge, attitude and practices found between students studying in different professional years.
Conclusion: To conclude, the results of our study showed that major source of information for gaining knowledge for COVID-19, was through social media. The students demonstrated a satisfactory level of knowledge, attitude and practices for the prevention of COVID-19.
Keywords: Knowledge, attitude, practice, medical students, pandemic

CITATION

Ahuja P, Kaur J, Puri D, Meshram P, Matreja PS, Kumar J. A cross sectional study of knowledge, attitude and practices of medical students regarding COVID-19 in Northern India. J CLIN MED KAZ. 2023;20(2):26-32. https://doi.org/10.23950/jcmk/13139

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