Perception and preventive actions against COVID-19 in domestic and international students

INTRODUCTION: Young people, regarded as less susceptible to the virus, may differently perceive the situation associated with the COVID-19 outbreak. OBJECTIVES: To determine the differences in perception of COVID-19 and preventive actions taken against it by domestic and international university students under the spreading threat of COVID-19 illness. METHODS: During the outbreak of COVID-19, 224 domestic and 312 international students of Russian universities responded via on-line to the self-constructed Attitude towards COVID-19 Questionnaire. RESULTS: The showings of the international students were surely higher than those of domestic students in seriousness of their evaluation of the COVID-19-related situation in the world (p=.0006), in the country (p=.0096), and in the region (p=.0390); in the evaluation of the virus-related risks for aged and chronic patients (p=.0075), in adequacy of measures taken by the government against COVID-19 (p=.0114), in degree of disturbing their customary way of life (p=.0363), and ruining their plans for the future (p=.0161). The international students, who live mostly not at their homes and have a higher stress level (p=.0227), showed higher interest to COVID-19-related news (p=.0001), they were stricter in taking preventive measures: in wearing a mask, washing hands, keeping the distance in order to reduce the risk of the virus infection (p=.0009). CONCLUSIONS: During the COVID-19 outbreak, both the international and domestic students are calm in perceiving the threat to their health and life. At the same time, with a higher stress level, the international students are more watchful concerning the situation of COVID-19 spread, and they more strictly obey the restrictive measures.