Abstract
Since December 2019, a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) began its journey around the world. Medical students, as frontline healthcare workers, are more susceptible to be infected by the virus. The aim of this study was to assess COVID-19 related knowledge, self-reported preventive behaviors and risk perception among Iranian medical students within the first week after the onset of the outbreak in Iran. This cross-sectional study was conducted from 26th to 28th of February, 2020. Participants were Iranian medical students (5th-7th year) whose knowledge, preventive behaviors and risk perceptions of COVID-19 were assessed using an online questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 26 questions including 15 items about COVID-19 related knowledge, 9 items regarding preventive measures and 2 items about COVID-19 risk perception. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were shown to be satisfactory. A total of 240 medical students completed the questionnaire. The mean age of participants was 23.67 years. The average of correct answers of knowledge was 86.96%; and 79.60% had high level of related knowledge. The average rate of practicing preventive behaviors was 94.47%; and 94.2% had high level of performance in preventive behaviors. The cumulative score of risk perception was 4.08 out of 8 which was in moderate range. Risk perception was significantly different between stagers and interns and between those being trained in emergency room (ER) and non-ER wards. There was a significant negative correlation between preventive behaviors and risk perception. We found a high level of COVID-19 related knowledge and self-reported preventive behaviors and moderate risk perception among Iranian medical students.
Highlights
In the last month of 2019, an outbreak of viral pneumonia of unknown etiology occurred in Wuhan city in the east of China.[1]
Participants who being trained in emergency room (ER) (36, 15%) had significantly lower risk perception compared with those being trained in other wards such as internal medicine wards and surgery wards at level of P < 0.01
Since the novel corona virus has been discovered and started its journey around the world and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the disease as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern,[15] there has been great fear among all people about the possibility of a pandemic.[16,17]
Summary
In the last month of 2019, an outbreak of viral pneumonia of unknown etiology occurred in Wuhan city in the east of China.[1]. The aim of this study was to assess COVID-19 related knowledge, self-reported preventive behaviors and risk perception among Iranian medical students within the first week after the onset of the outbreak in Iran. Participants were Iranian medical students (5th-7th year) whose knowledge, preventive behaviors and risk perceptions of COVID-19 were assessed using an online questionnaire. Conclusion: We found a high level of COVID-19 related knowledge and self-reported preventive behaviors and moderate risk perception among Iranian medical students. COVID-19 and Iranian medical students; a survey on their relatedknowledge, preventive behaviors and risk perception.
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