European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) is a newly discovered respiratory syndrome which has adversely affected millions of people around the world. The study aims to estimate the psychological impacts of COVID-19 in the form of fear and anxiety among the healthcare students of the Central Region of Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was conducted amongst health care students in Saudi Arabia. A non-probability convenience samplingapproach was adopted to collect data by mean of an online questionnaire on social media. The sample size was determined by using Epi info software; the minimum sample required for this study was 567. Likert scale with five points was used to measure healthcare students' fear and anxiety level. Data were analysed using SPSS version 23. The descriptive data were expressed as frequencies and percentages. Spearman correlation was used to determine the strength of the relationship between variables. Amongst 571 health care students, 359 were males, and 212 were females. Data revealed that 84 (15%) of students had a severe level of anxiety, 438 (77%) had a moderate level of anxiety and 49 (9%) of the students had mild level of anxiety. Correlation coefficient was found insignificant between gender, academic year and institute (=0.066, p=0.116), (=0.018, p=0.661) and (=0.034, p=0.423) respectively. The COVID-19 pandemic has a negative impact on higher education because of the long-lasting pandemic situation. Our study's results illustrate the critical need to implement approaches and prevention measures to address healthcare students' mental health.

Introduction: Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19), was recognized and has caused serious illness and numerous deaths. The ultimate scope and effect of this outbreak are unclear at present as the situation is rapidly evolving. The disease causes respiratory illness (like the flu) with main clinical symptoms such as a dry cough, fever, and in more severe cases, difficulty in breathing.
Objective:  To assess knowledge, attitude, and practice of medical students towards corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Materials and Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted among undergraduate medical students in India from September 2020 to February 2021. Participants were recruited using a snowball sampling technique and all data were collected via an online self-reported questionnaire using Google Forms (http://forms.google.com/) as the data collection period coincided with implementation of the COVID-19 lockdown policy in India. Socio-demographics characteristics, social interaction history, information-seeking behavior, as well as knowledge, attitude, and practice toward COVID-19 were collected through a self-reported questionnaire. A p-value of <0.04 indicated statistical significance.
Results: A total of 2000 eligible participants completed the survey, 71.5% of whom were female, and their mean age was 19.4 years old (SD = 2.1). Almost all had sufficient knowledge (87.1%) and good preventive practice (93.6%) towards COVID-19; however, there was also a rather low level of positive attitude recorded, at 65.7%. The multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that the female participants, and the receiving of information from the official websites, reported a significantly higher level of good practice. Besides, students who had a high level of sufficient knowledge and positive attitude towards COVID-19 were more likely to have good preventive practices (All p<0.001).
Conclusion: Many undergraduate medical students in India had positive attitude and practice against COVID-19, yet only a few had adequate knowledge. This warrants further interventions to keep them updated with COVID-19 evidence to maximize their potentials in raising public awareness on COVID-19.