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Knowledge and practices toward COVID-19 among healthcare students: A cross-sectional study at the University of Zambia

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic led to the disruption of physical classes for university students globally, as large gatherings fuelled the transmission of the virus. In the efforts to mitigate its transmission and return to normality, prevention measures, including vaccination, have been encourag...

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Autores principales: Mudenda, Steward, Ngalande, Nelly, Mukosha, Moses, Hikaambo, Christabel Nang'andu, Daka, Victor, Matafwali, Scott Kaba, Banda, Michelo, Mfune, Ruth Lindizyani, Mayoka, Godfrey, Witika, Bwalya Angel
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9748439/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36530704
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1028312
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author Mudenda, Steward
Ngalande, Nelly
Mukosha, Moses
Hikaambo, Christabel Nang'andu
Daka, Victor
Matafwali, Scott Kaba
Banda, Michelo
Mfune, Ruth Lindizyani
Mayoka, Godfrey
Witika, Bwalya Angel
author_facet Mudenda, Steward
Ngalande, Nelly
Mukosha, Moses
Hikaambo, Christabel Nang'andu
Daka, Victor
Matafwali, Scott Kaba
Banda, Michelo
Mfune, Ruth Lindizyani
Mayoka, Godfrey
Witika, Bwalya Angel
author_sort Mudenda, Steward
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic led to the disruption of physical classes for university students globally, as large gatherings fuelled the transmission of the virus. In the efforts to mitigate its transmission and return to normality, prevention measures, including vaccination, have been encouraged. Therefore, it is critical to understand the knowledge and practices of students regarding COVID-19. This study assessed the knowledge and practices toward COVID-19 among healthcare students at the University of Zambia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was carried out from August 2021 to October 2021 among 478 healthcare students (pharmacy, physiotherapy, nursing, biomedical, medicine, and radiography). We used a previously validated questionnaire to measure knowledge and practice. The predictors of knowledge and practices were assessed using logistic regression with robust estimation of standard errors. Statistical analysis was conducted using Stata/BE version 17.0. RESULTS: Of the 478 respondents, 243 (50.8%) were females. A larger proportion, 175 (36.6%) were in Pharmacy training, and 156 (32.6%) were in their fifth year of study. The overall mean knowledge score of the participants was 87.9 (SD = 16.1), being higher at 89.6 (SD = 14.3) among medical students and the lowest at 86.7 (SD = 17.1) among Pharmacy students, although this was statistically non-significant (p = 0.488). The overall mean practice score was 60.0 (SD = 24.7), being significantly higher at 63.5 (23.4) among nursing, physiotherapy and environmental students compared to other students (p = 0.048). In multivariable analysis, the participant training program was non-significantly associated with knowledge and practice toward COVID-19. However, increased age (AOR = 1.09, 95% CI: 1.01–1.117) and residing in urban areas (AOR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.07–3.01) than in rural areas were associated with higher odds of good practice toward COVID-19. CONCLUSION: The healthcare students generally showed good knowledge levels and poor practices toward COVID-19. Further, there was no evidence of a difference in knowledge of COVID-19 among healthcare students. These findings suggest the need for implementation strategies to be centered on improving the practices of students toward COVID-19.
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spelling pubmed-97484392022-12-15 Knowledge and practices toward COVID-19 among healthcare students: A cross-sectional study at the University of Zambia Mudenda, Steward Ngalande, Nelly Mukosha, Moses Hikaambo, Christabel Nang'andu Daka, Victor Matafwali, Scott Kaba Banda, Michelo Mfune, Ruth Lindizyani Mayoka, Godfrey Witika, Bwalya Angel Front Public Health Public Health BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic led to the disruption of physical classes for university students globally, as large gatherings fuelled the transmission of the virus. In the efforts to mitigate its transmission and return to normality, prevention measures, including vaccination, have been encouraged. Therefore, it is critical to understand the knowledge and practices of students regarding COVID-19. This study assessed the knowledge and practices toward COVID-19 among healthcare students at the University of Zambia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was carried out from August 2021 to October 2021 among 478 healthcare students (pharmacy, physiotherapy, nursing, biomedical, medicine, and radiography). We used a previously validated questionnaire to measure knowledge and practice. The predictors of knowledge and practices were assessed using logistic regression with robust estimation of standard errors. Statistical analysis was conducted using Stata/BE version 17.0. RESULTS: Of the 478 respondents, 243 (50.8%) were females. A larger proportion, 175 (36.6%) were in Pharmacy training, and 156 (32.6%) were in their fifth year of study. The overall mean knowledge score of the participants was 87.9 (SD = 16.1), being higher at 89.6 (SD = 14.3) among medical students and the lowest at 86.7 (SD = 17.1) among Pharmacy students, although this was statistically non-significant (p = 0.488). The overall mean practice score was 60.0 (SD = 24.7), being significantly higher at 63.5 (23.4) among nursing, physiotherapy and environmental students compared to other students (p = 0.048). In multivariable analysis, the participant training program was non-significantly associated with knowledge and practice toward COVID-19. However, increased age (AOR = 1.09, 95% CI: 1.01–1.117) and residing in urban areas (AOR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.07–3.01) than in rural areas were associated with higher odds of good practice toward COVID-19. CONCLUSION: The healthcare students generally showed good knowledge levels and poor practices toward COVID-19. Further, there was no evidence of a difference in knowledge of COVID-19 among healthcare students. These findings suggest the need for implementation strategies to be centered on improving the practices of students toward COVID-19. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-11-30 /pmc/articles/PMC9748439/ /pubmed/36530704 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1028312 Text en Copyright © 2022 Mudenda, Ngalande, Mukosha, Hikaambo, Daka, Matafwali, Banda, Mfune, Mayoka and Witika. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Mudenda, Steward
Ngalande, Nelly
Mukosha, Moses
Hikaambo, Christabel Nang'andu
Daka, Victor
Matafwali, Scott Kaba
Banda, Michelo
Mfune, Ruth Lindizyani
Mayoka, Godfrey
Witika, Bwalya Angel
Knowledge and practices toward COVID-19 among healthcare students: A cross-sectional study at the University of Zambia
title Knowledge and practices toward COVID-19 among healthcare students: A cross-sectional study at the University of Zambia
title_full Knowledge and practices toward COVID-19 among healthcare students: A cross-sectional study at the University of Zambia
title_fullStr Knowledge and practices toward COVID-19 among healthcare students: A cross-sectional study at the University of Zambia
title_full_unstemmed Knowledge and practices toward COVID-19 among healthcare students: A cross-sectional study at the University of Zambia
title_short Knowledge and practices toward COVID-19 among healthcare students: A cross-sectional study at the University of Zambia
title_sort knowledge and practices toward covid-19 among healthcare students: a cross-sectional study at the university of zambia
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9748439/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36530704
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1028312
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