KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND PRACTICE OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS REGARDING COVID-19: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Objective: To identify the knowledge, attitudes and practices of university students regarding COVID-19, as
well as their perception of the risk of infection by this disease. Material and Method: Cross-sectional study, carried out between May and December 2022, with 163 university students from seven undergraduate
courses in the areas of human sciences, health and engineering, from a private institution in São Paulo,
Brazil. Indicators of knowledge, attitudes and practices and risk perception regarding COVID-19 infection were collected using an online form. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 21.0. Descriptive analysis was performed using absolute and relative frequencies, mean and standard deviation. Bartlett’s test was used for normality analysis, and Student’s t-test was applied for bivariate analysis (risk perception). The research was approved by the Research Ethics Committee. Results: The majority of students were female and studying health programs. The level of knowledge about COVID-19 was satisfactory (93.2%), the attitude was positive in 95.0% of them and good practices against the disease were identified in 94.4% of the sample. Risk perception was higher for infection outside of academic activities (6.68, p<0.001) and for infection of family members (6.68, p<0.001). Conclusions:
University students had high levels of knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding COVID-19 and were shown to be willing to adopt protective behaviors against the disease.