Abstract
Introduction: Ever since COVID-19 became a pandemic much responsibility has been put on healthcare providers, and since medical students are future healthcare workers, it is necessary to study their response and perceptions on the current pandemic. This study's objective is to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and preventive practices (KAP) of medical students in King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS) Riyadh branch towards COVID-19.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from 26th of August 2021 to 15th of February 2022 using an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was composed of 34 questions: 7 on demographics, 13 on knowledge about COVID-19, 5 on attitude towards COVID-19, and 9 on preventive behaviors against COVID-19. This study included all undergraduate medical students of KSAU-HS, Riyadh branch. The sample size was calculated to be 370.
Results: In this study, the 378 participants who responded were mostly males (51.06%), and more than half (56.51%) were in their basic years. The percentage of stream I students was 89.95%. The average correct response rate of knowledge questions was 81.40%. Most of the participants adopted positive behaviors over the course of the pandemic. In addition, 55.29% had high adherence to precautionary practices. When comparing the variables, clinical year students had higher knowledge, but basic year students had better preventive measures. Furthermore, stream II students exhibited better knowledge.
Conclusion: Overall, medical students had excellent knowledge levels, adequate positive attitude, and high adherence to preventive measures. Although clinical year students showed high knowledge their lower performance in preventive behaviors should be investigated.