Knowledge, attitude, practice on plastic waste pollution mitigation among undergraduate students in the academic year of 2021 – 2022 and some associated factors

Abstract

Objectives: To assess knowledge, attitude, and practice on plastic waste mitigation and associated factors among students at Thang Long University and the University of Labour and Social Affairs, Hanoi, Vietnam, in the academic year 2021-2022. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 565 undergraduate students at two universities using a stratified random sampling technique. Study subjects were requested to respond online via the administered questionnaire. The questionnaire includes general information (7 questions); knowledge on reducing plastic pollution (13 questions); attitudes on reducing plastic pollution (8 questions); and practice on reducing plastic pollution (10 questions). The reliability of the questionnaire is acceptable (Cronbach's α = 0.610). The data was entered with Excel and then analyzed in SPSS version 22.0. Results: The results revealed that 42.7% of the surveyed students showed adequate knowledge, 97.5% had an adequate attitude, and 82.5% had adequate practice on plastic waste pollution mitigation. Findings also showed that students who had inadequate knowledge were 4.5 times more likely to have inadequate attitudes than those who did not (OR = 4.5; 95% CI (1.0–42.5), p < 0.05). Students who had an inadequate attitude were 3.6 times more likely to have inadequate practice than those who did not (OR = 3.6; 95% CI (1.02–12.4); p < 0.05). Students who had inadequate knowledge were 2.5 times more likely to have inadequate practice than those who did not (OR = 2.5; 95% CI (1.5–4.3); p < 0,001). Recommendations: The study strongly suggested an in-depth investigation to explore potential associated factors with knowledge, attitude, and practice on plastic waste mitigation among university students, such as gender, age, academic majors, living place, and sources of accessing information on plastic waste pollution mitigation.