Knowledge and Self-reported Practice of Face Masks Among College Students to Prevent COVID -19

Abstract

Introduction: One of the crucial non-pharmacological interventions to control the spread of COVID-19 is mask usage. Younger adults were found to be the slowest to embrace the use of facemask in the prevention of COVID-19 than older people (CDC 2020). Young people’s decisions to forego social health measures, affect not only just their peers but also the older ones in their family and community Hence, the present study was aimed to assess the knowledge and self-reported practice of using face masks among college students to prevent COVID-19. Methodology: A descriptive study using snowball sampling technique on 1000 college students of Kerala through online platform. A self-developed questionnaire with 20 questions to assess the knowledge on COVID- 19 and usage of masks and a Likert scale with 36 questions with a maximum score of 180 to assess the practice were used. Results: Most of the subjects (80%) were between 18 to 21 years and were females (77.1%). The subjects were mostly professional students (77.4%) belonging to rural area (71.4%). The knowledge level on COVID 19 and usage of face masks was found to be mostly good to very good {Good in 65% (650), Very Good in 18.2% (182)}. The reported practice ranged from very good 52.5 % (525) to good 47.5%(475)in most of the sample. A statistically significant association was found between the knowledge and practice with the selected socio-demographic variables. Conclusion The good knowledge and practice on use of the face masks to prevent COVID 19 may be because most of the subjects were professional students although the questionnaire was open to all. It may also indicate that young people also are committed to protect their family and society through their public health behaviour.