Knowledge and action against Covid-19 of university students of careers related to health sciences, 2021

Abstract

The respiratory disease Covid-19 is of rapid community transmission, so it is essential to maintain hygienic-sanitary and social responsibility measures to prevent its spread. It was proposed to analyze the knowledge and action against Covid-19 of university students of careers related to health sciences.

Observational, descriptive, correlational and cross-sectional study. A structured and self-administered questionnaire divided into three sections was designed in Google Forms: sociodemographic data, knowledge and action against Covid-19. A scale was adapted to assess the level of knowledge and action. A score ≥29 was considered for “greater knowledge” and ≥15 for “greater action” regarding the prevention of the disease. Pearson's correlation coefficient was applied to analyze the correlation between the scores of knowledge and action against Covid-19, with a significance level of p<0.05. InfoStat v.19 was used.

875 students from the National University of Córdoba participated, of both sexes, <35 years old, between October-November 2021. Of the total number of respondents, 87.54% were female and 74.29% were between 18- 24 years. The most frequent careers were Bachelor of Nutrition, Bachelor of Psychology and Medicine. In relation to knowledge, more than 95% recognized prevention measures and their importance (hand hygiene, social distancing and use of face masks). Likewise, 97.14% recognized the possibility of re-contagion after getting sick and/or being vaccinated. Regarding actions, 54.97% chose soap and water for hand washing, however 37.14% knew the recommended washing time and only 18.29% applied it. 50.97% "never" used a mask when meeting with peers and/or relatives and 38.97% admitted to respecting prevention measures "sometimes/never" when they shared with people in the risk group. 94.06% had "greater knowledge" while only 19.66% "greater action". A positive correlation was observed between the scores of knowledge and action against the prevention of Covid-19 (r=0.25; p<0.0001).

It is concluded that it is necessary to reinforce the application of preventive and social responsibility measures against Covid-19 through the implementation of health promotion strategies.