Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice toward Prevention of COVID-19 Among Nursing and Midwifery Students: A cross-sectional Study in Gorgan, Northern Iran
Abstract
Background: Healthcare providers are high-risk groups for the novel coronavirus
disease (COVID-19) infection. Nursing students are an essential part of high-risk
healthcare providers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude,
and practice of nursing and midwifery students at Golestan University of Medical
Sciences (GOUMS) toward the prevention of COVID-19.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 174 nursing and midwifery
students of GOUMS (northeast of IRAN) in 2020. Data were gathered using an
online questionnaire comprising three parts – Knowledge (8 questions), Attitude (10
questions), and Practice (8 questions) toward the prevention of COVID-19. The range
of scores in each subscale (knowledge, attitude, and preventive practices) were 8–24,
10–50, and 8–24, respectively. Data were analyzed using the SPSS v.16 software. The
Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests were used for the analysis.
Results: Overall, in this study, nursing and midwifery students had a good knowledge
(mean score: 23.19 ± 2.56), a positive attitude (mean score: 45.48 ± 4.21), and
appropriate practice (mean score: 23.30 ± 3.51) regarding COVID-19 prevention. Also,
the results revealed a positive correlation between knowledge and attitude (r = 0.1, P
= 0.18) and attitude and practice (r = 0.2, P = 0.01) among the students.
Conclusion: The findings demonstrated a good preventive knowledge, attitude, and
practice toward COVID-19 among nursing and midwifery students.
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