Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, Behavior and Risk Perception of COVID-19 Pandemic among University Students of Pakistan
Abstract Objective: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has substantially affected students around the globe due to the closure of educational institutes. However, student involvements and contributions are important in combating the disease for this reason current study was designed to assess the knowledge-attitude-practice (KAP), preventive behavior, and risk perception among university students. Methods: A cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted among university students of Punjab, Pakistan from April 1st to June 30th, 2020. The 68 items questionnaire was used to evaluated responses using statistical approaches (student’s t-test, regression-analysis and co-relation analysis) by considering p-value <0.05 statistically significant. Results: A total of 503 university students (medical and non-medical) were selected with the majority of participants were females (83%) and 64.5% were of age ranged from 16 to 21 years old. The participants (80%) reported good disease knowledge with a mean score of 12.06 ± 1.75 (p<0.05), which substantially higher among medical students. Most of the respondents (72%) believed that COVID-19 will be effectively controlled through precautionary measures. In correlation subgroup analysis, a significant relationship (p=0.025) between knowledge and positive attitude were indicated. Fear and knowledge of COVID-19 emerged as strong predictors (p<0.001) of preventive behaviors towards disease. Conclusion: This study demonstrated satisfactory knowledge, positive attitudes, and suitable practices among students towards COVID-19. University students can be involved in public education to aid the health authorities in achieving the targets of educational campaigns with maximum population coverage.