Exploring Knowledge and Attitude toward Middle East Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) Among University Health Colleges’ Students, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is an emerging pathogen with a pandemic potential and a higher burden in Saudi Arabia. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the knowledge and attitude toward MERS-CoV among Health Colleges' students in a Saudi public university. The study included 540 students. A well-constructed questionnaire containing 14 knowledge and 8 attitude items was completed by all participants. Overall, >80% of students were aware about MERS-CoV aetiology, mode of transmission, risk factors and signs and symptoms. Knowledge scores revealed that 42% of participants have sufficient knowledge. Medical students had significantly better knowledge compared to students in other Health Colleges (p = 0.001). Concerning attitude, >50% of students exhibited a positive attitude toward MERS-CoV. This study showed a good knowledge level and a strong positive attitude towards protection from MERS-CoV among Health Colleges' students. However, there is a noticeable defect in the knowledge level about the microbiology of the virus and the infection control measures. The findings of this study highlight the need to design educational courses on new emerging diseases, field epidemiology, infection control practice and public health to all Health Colleges' students to prepare them for dealing with these types of health emergencies in their future healthcare practice. Besides, continuous awareness campaigns about new emerging diseases are warranted for all Health Colleges' students to improve their knowledge and attitude toward emerging infection trends.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice among Malaysian in facing COVID-19 During the Implementation of Movement Control Order

“…However, they also strongly and positively believe that their cooperation is needed to overcome this pandemic. All of these responses indicate their mental readiness to face the disease [22,23].…”

Pandemic related Health literacy – A Systematic Review of literature in COVID-19, SARS and MERS pandemics

“…For attitudes about pandemics, worry/fear/helplessness about pandemic (13, 14, 22, 28, 31, 33, 49, 51, 52, 60, 61, 63, 65, 68, 72, 76-78, 81, 83, 84), confidence in governments' ability to manage pandemic (13,23,28,30,33,41,61,63,65,68,70,77,78,82) and perceived severity of infection as a public health problem (13,29,39,41,44,45,59,65,70,72) was most commonly assessed. (Table 3) For practices in pandemics, behaviours related to mask utilization (14,16,23,26,28,30,32,33,35,38,40,48,59,61,63,65,70,73,80,82,(84)(85)…”

Knowledge, attitudes and practices about Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) among Birzeit University students: A cross-sectional study

“…The questionnaire was formed through a standardized methodology which includes the review of the literature information, group discussion, experts' evaluation, pilot study and the validation of the nal components of the questionnaire (Ishii et al 2012;Arora et al 2017). However, due to the lack of worldwide published literature regarding the evaluation of knowledge, attitudes and practice (KAP) toward COVID 19 among various society districts, the information was obtained from a comprehensive literature review regarding the evaluation of KAP toward MERS and SARS (Mbroh;Lau et al 2003;Bener and Al-Khal 2004;Kim et al 2016;Yang and Cho 2017;Al-Hazmi et al 2018;Asaad et al 2019;Goni et al 2019),WHO(WHO Corona-viruses), centers for disease control and prevention (CDC , (COVID-19)) and…”