Objectives: This study aimed to assess knowledge, attitude, and infection control measures related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak among Jordanian health care students. Besides, their social behavior and stress level regarding COVID-19 infection were assessed.
Materials and methods: An online questionnaire was distributed to medical, dental, pharmacy, nursing, and applied health science students in Jordan during the COVID-19 outbreak quarantine in March 2020. The questionnaire comprised 38 questions assessing demographic data, knowledge, attitude, risk perception, and stress level toward COVID-19. Questions regarding infection control measures and social behavior after the quarantine were also included.
Statistical analysis: Independent samples t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and chi-square at a significance level of 5% were used for data analysis.
Results: A total number of 935 responses were collected. The knowledge score of 55.72% of participants was satisfactory and it was higher for the clinical years' students compared with the basic years' students (p = 0.000) (descending order: sixth year > fifth year > fourth year > third year > first year > second year). Also, knowledge scores were significantly higher for medical and dental students than other disciplines (descending order: medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing/applied) (p = 0.000). The social media (89.1%) and TV or radio (69.5%) were mainly routes through which participants heard about COVID-19. Moderate and justifiable feelings about COVID-19 were found in the majority of the participants.
Conclusion: Although the majority of students showed good knowledge scores, few of them appeared to have a serious lack of knowledge. Therefore, proper education and mentoring are necessary for students before reopening the university campuses.
European Journal of Dentistry. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).