Knowledge of Coronavirus Disease 2019 and Practice of Prevention Protocols Among Nursing Students in South-south, Nigeria
Keywords:
Coronavirus, COVID-19, Knowledge, Myths, Practice, Prevention Protocols, Nursing StudentsAbstract
Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 is a pandemic which has resulted in the daily report of thousands of death globally. Worse still, health authorities across the globe are struggling to contain its spread.
Objectives: The study assessed the knowledge of transmission, symptoms, treatment, myths and prevention practices among nursing students during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Materials and Methods: Descriptive cross sectional study among 242 nursing students selected from 4 Universities in 4 different states in South-South Nigeria participated in the study. Online software was used to design an electronic web-based questionnaire for collecting data. Data was analyzed using frequencies, simple percentage and bar chart.
Results: One hundred and eighty six (76.9%) did not know about coronavirus before the COVID-19 pandemic and 86.8% were yet to undergo COVID-19 test. The knowledge level of 47% (lower than the acceptable cut-off of 50%) indicated a low level of COVID-19 related knowledge. Also, about 76% believed that it was unsafe to receive materials shipped from China. With regards to prevention of COVID-19, a practice level of 87.7% (higher than the acceptable cut-off of 50%) indicated a high level of practice for the COVID-19 prevention protocols.
Conclusion: Nursing students in South-South, Nigeria had low knowledge level of COVID-19 but high level of practice for the COVID-19 prevention protocols.
Recommendations: More enlightenment about COVID-19 should be conducted to improve knowledge and upgrade the current prevention and control protocols. Also, wide testing of the Nigerian populace is necessary to urgently and effectively contain the spread of the novel virus.References
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