Abstract
Introduction: COVID-19 is a global pandemic that was discovered in Wuhan, China. Since its discovery, health measures have been put in place to help curb its spread but compliance with these measures has not been optimum due to inadequate education. Proper education on COVID-19 is important as it is associated with improvement in compliance to health control measures as well as knowledge of the disease. Aim: This study was carried out to evaluate the impact of an educational intervention on the knowledge of young researchers on COVID-19. Methods: This study was a cross-sectional, pre- and post-interventional study carried out among researchers that were part of a WhatsApp group between August and September 2020. The knowledge of the participants was evaluated first after which an educational intervention was provided via an online WhatsApp lecture on COVID-19. The participants were examined post-intervention using the same knowledge questions used before the training. Results: A total of 46 participants consented to participate with mean age of 23.78 (SD:3.705 years). More than 54% showed poor knowledge at pre-intervention. There was a significant improvement in knowledge at post-intervention as more than 54% showed excellent knowledge. There was a statistically significant difference in mean knowledge scores of the participants between pre-intervention and post-intervention, p<0.001. Conclusion: Educational intervention has a significant impact on the knowledge of participants as shown in this study. There was an improvement in the knowledge of the study participants at post-intervention. There is need for regular online educational programs that can improve knowledge on COVID-19.
Highlights
COVID-19 is a global pandemic that was discovered in Wuhan, China
The COVID-19 outbreak was declared a pandemic by the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) on 11th March, 2020 [7]
Public health measures has been put in place to curb the further spread of the virus and this has been documented in standardised guidelines proposed by the WHO and Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in Nigeria [8,9]
Summary
COVID-19 is a global pandemic that was discovered in Wuhan, China. Since its discovery, health measures have been put in place to help curb its spread but compliance with these measures has not been optimum due to inadequate education. Public health measures has been put in place to curb the further spread of the virus and this has been documented in standardised guidelines proposed by the WHO and NCDC in Nigeria [8,9]. As regards tackling this public health disaster, adequate knowledge is important as this has been reported to bring about positive health outcomes made possible through education [10,11]. Education and awareness are important factors that can improve adherence to public health control measures of major outbreaks including COVID-19 [12]. Knowledge of the public is assumed to have a great outcome on their ability to adhere strictly to control measures and take up new measures when necessary but knowledge gaps contribute greatly to the poor adherence to control measures [13,14]
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