Knowledge, Attitudes, and Preventative Practices (KAPs) Towards COVID-19 Among International Students in China

Abstract

The study aimed to find out about the knowledge, attitudes, and preventative practices of COVID-19 among international students in China during the pandemic. Material and Methods: A cross-section survey was conducted among 300 international students from 13 different universities in Hubei province of China between March and April 2020 which relied upon convenience sampling method. Results: Out of 300 respondents, 153 (51%) of the respondents were female students, of which the majority were single, undergraduate students who were doing medicine (163, 54.3%) and engineering programs (68, 22.7%). The majority of international students had an impressive knowledge on the causes, risks, and spread of COVID-19, and that they were no misconception of the pandemic 229 (76%) to 281 (98%) respectively. These students also demonstrated a markedly positive attitude towards the virus and a feeling that they were almost completely safe being in China (264, 84%). Variations were found on Knowledge scores in age group (P<0.01) and majors (P=0.025), attitude scores on major of study (P=0.015), and experience (P<0.01). Furthermore, the results revealed that all the students (300, 100%) adhered to and practiced set preventive measures against COVID-19 and that there was a positive correlation between attitudes and preventative practices (r=0.219, P<0.01). Conclusion: This study found that social media platform was contributing enormously towards information dissemination and Chinese universities were commended for their continuous notifications on COVID-19 which helped students to have full knowledge. This, in turn, was instrumental in helping students to form good attitudes and practices towards COVID-19.

Effects of Government Actions on Safety and Security Perceptions of International Students during COVID-19 Pandemic in China

“…Thus, the majority of them have been able to find all adequate necessary information by using all available online social media and other platforms which are the current trend way of communication especially to the youth who are in majority as revealed in the study. The adequate and relevance of information dissemination has also been contributed by Chinese universities as they have contributed for the frequent provision of school notifications to the students during the pandemic time [31]. Our findings of this study on high dissemination means information agrees with other recent studies on IS in China which are said to have even gone to the extent of even helping in psychological perspectives to the students [35].…”

“…This study used exploratory methodology which relied both on reviewing the literature online on the official Chinese Government website, peer reviewed published articles and published Chinese school notifications. Furthermore, the study is part of the main study that was conducted to find Knowledge, Attitude and Preventative practices among international students in China that used a cross sectional design survey which was conducted on the first week of May 2020 in 13 selected universities in Hubei province of China [31] (See Fig. 2 Hubei province is located in central China and is one of the provinces that has many academic institutions in China with many international students close to 21,371 [10].…”

Factors Influencing the Preventive Practice of International Students in South Korea against COVID-19 during the Pandemic

“…According to the KAP model, knowledge, attitudes, and practice are inter-related [9,10], and previous studies have found that knowledge is the most crucial factor in preventive behavior regarding novel influenza A [22]. However, the result of the final hierarchical regression analysis in this study found that participants' attitudes, but not their knowledge about COVID-19, affected their preventative practice, although they also showed significant positive relationships [23][24][25].…”

“…Therefore, it is difficult for most international students living in Daegu and Gyeongbuk to keep track of the continually changing guidelines announced by Korea's government or to find relevant information. Mostly, many international students often obtain COVID-19 related information through social media [9], so they need to be managed to avoid exposure to misinformation, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of them are non-English speakers and may have difficulty understanding the official announcements provided in Korean and English.…”

Assessing the Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of COVID-19 among Quarantine Hotel Workers in China

“…Prior research provides evidence that the level of KAP possessed by inhabitants dictates the success of the adopted measures [ 15 , 18 , 24 , 25 , 26 ]. Recently, there are some studies investigated KAP towards COVID-19 in different group, such as general residents [ 19 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ], healthcare workers [ 24 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 ], students [ 9 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 ], patients [ 49 ], hospital visitors [ 50 ] and slums [ 51 , 52 ], during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of KAP studies regarding COVID-19 discuss the group of general residents.…”