Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Concerning COVID-19 Among Undergraduate Students of Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences at King Khalid University, Abha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Surveyed Study

Abstract

Background and Objective:The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has exerted great efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This research aims to scrutinize the outlook, awareness, and customs of Saudi undergraduate students regarding COVID-19. Methods: The current cross-sectional study comprises 178 undergraduate students in the Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences. The data were collected from online Google form questionnaires. The differences were picked out of the questionnaires, and the mean scores of the differences were duly assessed. The variables associated with knowledge, attitude, and practice toward COVID-19 were evaluated; moreover, a comparative study was conducted on these variables in different faculty departments. ANOVA, Student's t-test, and binary logistic regression analysis were used to assess the data on knowledge, attitude, and practice. Results: Most of the undergraduate students were well acquainted with COVID-19. We obtained the mean knowledge score for COVID-19 to be 3.08 ± .82 (range: 1-5), indicating good knowledge. The attitude means the score was 3.02 ± .61 (range: 0-4), implying good positive attitudes. On assessing the mean score of practices, it was found 5 ± .47 (range: 0-7), pointing towards perfect practices. There were no significant differences between males and females regarding knowledge, attitudes, and practice toward COVID-19 (p-value < 0.05). Conclusion: Students of Applied Medical Sciences are knowledgeable about COVID-19. Health education programs should be focused on protection and safety from COVID-19 for Applied Medical Sciences students, especially Medical Rehabilitation Sciences and Radiology. Hand hygiene awareness programs must be conducted for undergraduate students. Infection control should be part of the undergraduate applied for medical sciences curriculum program.

Effect of Telehealth Nursing Intervention on the COVID-19 Protective Measures Awareness and Practice among University Students

“…These results were in agreement with Hamza et al, (2021) they conducted a study among senior pharmacy students in Egypt and showed that most of students had low practice score of washing hands with soap and water. Additionally, these findings were in accordance with Adam et al, (2021) who reported that more than three quarters of students didn't practice hand hygiene.…”

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice among Physical Therapists toward COVID-19 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Our study showed almost similar trends as those reported by previous studies conducted in Saudi Arabia or other countries [ 14 , 15 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 26 , 27 ]. The researchers found the same trends in applied medical sciences [ 31 ] and dental science professionals [ 28 ] in Saudi Arabia.…”

“…The majority of the participants (61.3%) exhibited a positive attitude toward the best practice guidelines for hand hygiene, and only 38.7% showed a poor attitude toward this practice in our study. Our scores were better than those of a previously conducted study, as, in that study, all the participants were students [ 31 ], whereas, in our study, we included physical therapists who were already practicing. The poor attitude by around 39% of the participants is not a good sign, and this gap needs to be addressed by increasing health education toward ways to prevent pandemic spread.…”

“…All of these will prevent COVID-19 transmission to and from therapists and patients. There have been several studies conducted on the general public regarding knowledge, attitude, and practice toward COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia and globally [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ]. However, no previous studies to our knowledge have assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and practice of physical therapists regarding the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia.…”

Assessment of understanding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) among health university students in Makkah, Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study

“…[26] Another study on the assessment of knowledge in Saudi Arabian medical students by Adam, et al (2021) also yielded similar results. [27] The same is true in the study by Olum, et al (2020) in Uganda where first and fifth-year medical students participated. [28] Similarly, in the study by Taghrir, Borazjani, & Shiraly (2020) using self-report measures, their medical students in Iran also showed a high level of knowledge about COVID-19.…”