Previously submitted to: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (no longer under consideration since Jun 29, 2021)
Date Submitted: Jan 21, 2021
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Perception and awareness of COVID-19 among health science students at Kuwait University: An online cross-sectional study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is unprecedented. Health science students are the future frontliners to fight pandemics.
Objective:
Awareness and perception toward COVID-19 among health science students at Kuwait University was assessed.
Methods:
Between June and July 2020, an online questionnaire was distributed to all students at HCS. The questionnaire was divided into six sections: socio-demography, risk and awareness, preparedness and prevention, source of information, policies, and social stigma.
Results:
A total of 592 students completed the questionnaire. The self-reported COVID-19 prevalence among students was 2.7%. About 54% of students reported that they knew someone within their immediate social environment who have been/are infected with SARS-CoV-2. The prevalence of self-reported chronic condition among students was 14.0% including 42.2% reported having a form of asthma. Among students, 92.4% wore face mask in indoor places (outside of their home) ‘often/all the time’ compared to wearing it outdoors (69.3%). Students indicated a great deal of trust in official government press releases and consultation with healthcare workers. On COVID-19 vaccination, 50% of students ‘strongly agreed’ to uptake it with an additional 25.8% ‘agreed’ to taking it. Participants strongly agreed or agreed (72.5% and 19.6%, respectively) that wearing face mask in public should be obligatory. More than 18% of students indicated that they would avoid contact with COVID-19 infected people.
Conclusions:
: Responses of students showed that they follow precautionary measures to control spread of COVID-19, understand the viral transmission risk, and willing to uptake the COVID-19 vaccine.
Citation
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