Vandana Gangadharan1, George Koshy2, Varghese Koshy3, Mahua Upadhyay4, Saurabh Bobdey5
BACKGROUND
Human coronavirus (HCoV), 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), was found in
Wuhan, China, which has been responsible for an immense amount of morbidity
and mortality world over. In India like in most parts of the world the fight against
COVID-19 is an ongoing challenge. People’s adherence of the prevention measures
is essential for controlling the spread of COVID-19, which is affected by their
knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards COVID-19. It has been
established since the very onset of the pandemic that COVID-19 transmission
between individuals occurs most importantly through direct contact as well as by
droplets spread by coughing or sneezing of an individual who is infected.
Therefore, the key to control of the disease lies having knowledge and adoption
of preventive practices. Hence, the study was planned with the objective to assess
knowledge, attitude and practice of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) among
students in a medical college.
METHODS
This was a cross-sectional web-based study. A questionnaire designed on the basis
of published literature and Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
guidelines was distributed online amongst students in a Medical College in North
India. The mean knowledge, attitude, practices as well as demographics of the
participants were assessed and scores were assigned for the same. Higher scores
represented a better knowledge of COVID-19. Statistical analysis was carried out
using Mann Whitney U test for gender and Kruskal Wallis test for age category.
RESULTS
Out of the total students with a non-response rate of 3 %, 398 participants
responded, out of whom 54.52 % were males and majority (62.31 %) of the
participants were in the age group of 21 - 23 years. Most of the participants were
well aware about the modes of spread, main clinical symptoms and precautionary
measures required for the prevention of COVID-19.
CONCLUSIONS
The levels of knowledge, attitude and practices were found to be positively
adequate amongst most of the participants. Although encouraging, it needs to be
reemphasized that continued emphasis on increasing knowledge, attitude and
practices towards prevention of coronavirus disease is the key in containing this
escalating pandemic.
