Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice toward Coronavirus (Covid-19) among Laboratory & Nursing Students of Hadhramout University, in Mukalla City, Yemen ()
ABSTRACT
Background: As future healthcare providers, nursing students must have high-quality knowledge and be able to respond to rapid changes in any situation, such as the pandemic Covid-19. The condition of these students reflects the readiness of nursing students to face the increasing cases in the country. Since December 2019, coronavirus (Covid-19), a novel infectious disease that emerged, has spread worldwide, and the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that the infection is a “pandemic” and no country or region can be considered safe. The World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus a global health emergency (pandemic) on January 30, 2020. The novel coronavirus is a highly contagious disease, and the current outbreak has affected a large portion of the population around the world. Public health and social interventions play a critical role in reducing the number of infections and deaths until the vaccine is available to all. Objective: To determine the knowledge, attitude, and practice toward Coronavirus (Covid-19) among Laboratory & Nursing students of Hadhramout University, in Mukalla City, Yemen. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional. Stratified random sampling is used in sample selection to ensure that laboratory and nursing students total of 130 (70, 60) were included in the study. The sample was randomly selected from one hundred students, 50 laboratory students, and 50 nursing students studying at Hadhramout College. Time of study from October to December 2021. Results: The statistical analysis of data collected in this study showed that the awareness of coronavirus knowledge was high, as indicated by the percentage of correct answers. 78% of the nursing students obtained the highest percentage of knowledge about coronavirus, while more than 75% of the laboratory students, relied on social media as their main source of Covid-19 information. The College of Nursing students got the highest percentage of resource information about the Coronavirus 44%. Also we reported negative attitudes in general among nursing students and laboratory students at Hadhramout University, with 31% and 35% of nursing students and laboratory students respectively. On the other hands, we noted that (39%) of nursing students received a greater percentage of practice about Coronavirus than (37%) of laboratory students. So, they had a negative practice in general. Conclusion: The present study shows that knowledge about coronavirus is high, but attitudes and practices toward coronavirus (Covid-19) among laboratory and nursing students at Hadhramout University in Mukalla, Yemen, are generally negative.