Knowledge, attitude and practice towards COVID-19 among secondary school students in Gondar town, Northwest Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: In Ethiopia, an array of measures have been adopted to control the rapid spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Such control measures could significantly influence the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) towards COVID-19 in the general population. However, still, there is scarce information regarding the KAP of students towards the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this study aimed to assess KAP and associated factors towards COVID-19 among secondary school students in Gondar town, Ethiopia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from February to April 2021 on a total of 395 participants. Proportional sample allocation was used in 4 randomly selected schools. Then, students from each of the schools were recruited by using a systematic random sampling technique. Socio-demographic data and questions regarding the KAP were collected via a self-administered questionnaire. Statistical analysis was performed by using SPSS 20. Logistic regression analyses were used to identify the associated factors and p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The mean age of study participants was 17.7±1.5 years and slightly more than 2/3 (67.3%) ranges from 17–19 years old. In this study, 86.3% (95% CI: 83–90) of study participants had good knowledge about COVID-19. Students having urban residence (AOR, with 95% CI: 5.6 (1.76–17.6), fathers with a diploma and above educational status (AOR, with 95% CI: 3 (1.2–7.5), and uses television or radio as a source of information (AOR, with 95% CI: 3.7 (1.5–9.3) tended to have good knowledge about COVID-19. About 381 (86.3%) had good attitude towards COVID-19 infections, while 238 (60.3%) of the participants had a good practice to prevent COVID-19 infections. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of the secondary school students in Gondar town have good knowledge, attitude, and practices towards COVID-19. However, targeted interventions are still necessary, especially for students having poor knowledge and poor practice towards COVID-19. This study also found that urban residence, a father with a diploma and above educational status, and using television or radio as a source of information about COVID-19 were significantly associated with the knowledge level of the study participants.