Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a rapidly expanding pandemic caused by a novel human coronavirus. As the outbreak has impacted all stakeholders in the education sector, including university students, it is believed that to facilitate the outbreak management of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia, this study was aimed to understand the publics awareness of COVID-19. In this study, we aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitude, and practices associated with COVID-19 among Qassim University students during the period of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a validated questionnaire and involving students from various health specialties enrolled at Qassim University in Saudi Arabia. The sample size was 303 students (209 males and 94 females). Age varied from 18 to 28 years old, but most (74.9%) were aged between 21 and 24 years old.
Results: Regarding participants knowledge about COVID-19, the total mean score was 4.33 (SD = 0.77) out of 5 points, indicating that most of the students (85.8%) had good knowledge. Concerning attitude toward COVID- 19, the total mean score was 3.35 (SD = 1.09), which means that participants were approximately divided in half between the positive and negative attitudes. Concerning practices, the mean score was 3.52 (SD = 0.96), with 44.6% and 55.4% compromising inactive and proactive approaches, respectively.
Conclusion: The outcome of this cross-sectional study shows that most of the Qassim University students belonging to different medical fields were well informed of basic information and has positive attitudes, and proactive practices toward COVID-19, indicating the efficacy of the current public health campaign.
Key words: COVID-19, attitude, practices, Saudi Arabia, university students, Qassim
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