Knowledge, attitude and preventive practices related to COVID-19: a cross-sectional study in two Pakistani university populations

Abstract

Objective The aim of this study was to assess COVID-19-related knowledge, attitudes, and preventive practices of two Pakistani university populations. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among students and employees of two higher education institutions in Lahore, Pakistan, namely the University of Lahore and the Gulab Devi Educational Complex. Participants were recruited using a convenient sampling method. A validated 45-item, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Total possible scores were 0-14 for knowledge (scores < 7, 7-10 and > 10 were considered to indicate poor, moderate and good knowledge, respectively); 0-7 for attitude (scores > 5 were considered to indicate a good attitude); and 0-18 for COVID-19 preventative practices (scores > 12 were considered to indicate good preventative practices). Results Of the 417 enrolled participants, 416 reported that they were aware of COVID-19 and social media was the major source of their information. Mean scores were 10.12 ± 2.20 for knowledge (good, moderate and poor knowledge in 50.2%, 42.8% and 7.0% of participants, respectively); 5.74 ± 1.28 for attitude (65.4% of individuals had a positive attitude); and 11.04 ± 3.34 for COVID-19 preventative practices (only 36.5% of participants had good preventive practices). Conclusion Pakistani university students and employees have good knowledge and attitudes regarding COVID-19, but unsatisfactory preventive practices. Therefore, health regulators should use multiple communication approaches, such as electronic, print and social media, phone messages, etc., to increase awareness and improve practices related to COVID-19. I use a face mask in the crowds and when I visit healthcare settings nowadays 148 (35.6) 88 (21.2) 104 (25.0) 76 (18.3)

Knowledge, Socio-cognitive Perceptions and the Practice of Hand Hygiene and Social Distancing During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-sectional Study of UK University Students

“…This may also identify if there is a greater need for interventions in one of the behaviours or particular activities within a behaviour. Participants reported increased handwashing (88%) during the pandemic as has been found in other studies of university students [22,23,48,49], and this exceeded increases in a general population in Australia during the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic [52] or the UK H1N1 outbreak [28]. Both the latter UK survey and this survey occurred after major government advertising campaigns, including lea et drops, suggesting that in the current environment, the government information campaign has been particularly effective, as was also found in South Korea during the H1N1 pandemic [22].…”

“…However, there was only a moderate level of consistent ("Mostly" or Always") practice across all 8 hand hygiene activities (42.0%). While differences in the questions may affect comparability to other studies, this is still well within the wide range found in other studies, looking at handwashing alone or a broader range of hygiene behaviours [28,49,[56][57][58]. Others have also found that speci c hand hygiene behaviours such as face /mouth/nose touching may be particularly di cult [20].…”

“…Most students did not have high scores on the risk perception scale with a maximum score of 9 (mean 4.31, SD 1.55), in terms of perceived probability, susceptibility and severity, as might be expected for a younger population [48], although a study in Pakistan reported high levels of perceived risk regarding COVID-19 even in university students [49]. The latter may be due to differences in the impact of COVID-19 in the population as a whole in some countries with greater health and social system challenges than the UK.…”

“…However, this study still appears to be the rst study examining the determinants of protective behaviours in university students in Western countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two studies comprising medical students in Iran [48] and university students in Pakistan [49] have since been identi ed but without speci cally describing both hygiene and social distancing activities, and with few determinants analysed. Studies in general populations or adolescents have been noted in the US, UK, and Australia [50][51][52][53], as well as studies in Asia.…”

“…In particular, knowledge of all three key symptoms, and lack of treatment and vaccines was high which could potentially impact behaviours. As in the WHO survey [33], but in contrast to other studies [49,59,60], this study did not assess knowledge of transmission measures, because of uncertainties in the general public domain at the time about modes of transmission. In addition, participants exhibited high levels of knowledge of the effectiveness of hand hygiene and social distancing measures in preventing infection, with 90.7% and 93.5% respectively correctly identifying of all or all but one measure.…”