Knowledge, attitude and practice on COVID-19 among students during the early phase of pandemic in a university in Borneo, Malaysia

  • Mohd Fazeli Sazali
    Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
  • Syed Sharizman Syed Abdul Rahim
    Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
    https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9090-2563
  • Mohd Haazik Mohamed
    Faculty of Psychology and Education, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
    https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7610-6309
  • Azizan Omar
    Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
    https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3369-4075
  • Nicholas Tze Ping Pang
    Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
    https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1659-6374
  • Mohammad Saffree Jeffree
    Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
    https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0373-4451
  • Yeap Boon Tat
    Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
    https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2517-597X
  • Nelbon Giloi
    Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
  • Farhana Harzila Mohd Bahar
    Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
    https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1403-9785
  • Wiwik Afridah
    Universitas Nahdlatul Ulama, Surabaya, Indonesia.
  • Abdul Hakim Zakkiy Fasya
    Universitas Nahdlatul Ulama, Surabaya, Indonesia.
  • Mohd Rohaizat Hassan
    Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
    https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4658-6532
  • Mohd Faizal Madrim
    Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
  • Khalid Mokti
    Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
    https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3547-9923
  • Abdul Rahman Ramdzan
    Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
    https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1067-7640
  • Zulkhairul Naim Sidek Ahmad
    Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
  • Azman Atil
    Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
    https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0850-7992
  • Muhammad Aklil Abd Rahim
    Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
    https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1087-4444
  • Mohd Yusof Ibrahim
    Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.

ABSTRACT

Background: COVID-19 related knowledge, attitude and practice plays a major role in determining the readiness of the community to adopt the behavioural change towards recommended preventive measures outlined by public health officials. This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding COVID-19 among university students as well as its associated factors.

Method:
 This is a cross sectional study that was conducted among students in a public university during the early phase of COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. An online validated self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis test was used to determine the association between independent variables with knowledge, attitude, and practice score.

Results: Overall response rate of this study was 92.9 (n=524). Median score of knowledge domain was 78.0 (IQR= ±12.0), median attitude score of 49.0 (IQR= ±5.0), and median practice score of 80.0 (IQR= ±11.0). The mean knowledge, attitude and practice score were significantly higher among diploma holder (vs degree holder, p<0.05), residing in main Kota Kinabalu campus (vs non-KK campus, p<0.001), studying in medical faculty (vs non-medical faculty, p<0.001), and attended COVID-19 education (vs non-attendance; p<0.05).

Conclusion:
 COVID-19 related knowledge and attitude were below satisfactory level during earlier phase of the pandemic. However, majority of respondents have positive behaviour towards COVID-19 prevention. This highlights the importance of accurate and tailored health education to improve the level of knowledge, attitude and practice of recommended measures to prevent COVID-19 spread.

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