Are saudi healthcare students aware of COVID-19, and do they behave safely during viral outbreaks?

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand healthcare students' knowledge of COVID-19 and the precautionary behaviors they practiced in Saudi Arabia during the MERS-CoV2 outbreak. This cross-sectional study utilized an online questionnaire consisting of 29 items and three sections. The first section collected demographic information, including age, gender, location, and level of education. The second section assessed their knowledge of clinical characteristics, treatments, and disease prevention. The third section addressed the students' behaviors. Respondents included 223 students, of which 37.2% were males and 62.8% were females. The largest group of respondents included medical students (44.8%), followed by dental students (41.3%). Overall, students demonstrated a thorough knowledge of disease transmission, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of COVID-19. However, some of the respondents could not identify the full name of the disease, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (64.6%), or provide a current estimate of the number of cases diagnosed globally (49.8%). Additionally, most of the survey respondents (93.3%) reported that they had followed social distancing guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health. While most health students were knowledgeable about most aspects of COVID-19, others did not follow universal precautions during the outbreak, which identifies better incorporation of such information in students' academic programs.