Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Department of Pharmacology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Eur J Dent Educ. 2022 Feb;26(1):93-105. doi: 10.1111/eje.12676. Epub 2021 Feb 14.
This study evaluated the knowledge and perceptions of Brazilian dental students about COVID-19 and the undergraduate clinical practice during the COVID-19 outbreak by a self-administered Web-based questionnaire.
A social network campaign on Instagram was raised to approach the target population. The survey covered demographic and academic profile, general knowledge, preventive measures and perception about COVID-19. Descriptive statistics were used to identify frequencies and distributions of variables, which were compared by type of institution and current year of enrolment using the Chi-square or Fisher's exact tests (α = 0.05).
A total of 833 valid responses were received over 10 days. Students were able to identify the incubation period, main symptoms and contagious routes of the disease but struggled in recognising the name of the virus responsible for the pandemic. Hand washing before and after a dental appointment with a patient (97.7%) followed by the use of barriers to protect mucosa (97.2%) were the more frequently recognised measures to prevent COVID-19 spread in the dental office. As for the perception of COVID-19, 73.2% of the dental students perceived the disease as severe, whilst only 11.1% of them thought that COVID-19 is severe only for people presenting risk factors. Dental student's knowledge and perception were associated with the type of institution and year of enrolment.
In summary, the dental students demonstrated an acceptable general knowledge about COVID-19, but dental schools will need to address gaps in knowledge, preventive measures, and perceptions to ensure a safer return to in person activities.
本研究通过在线问卷调查评估了巴西牙科学生对 COVID-19 的认知和看法，以及在 COVID-19 疫情期间的本科临床实习情况。
通过 Instagram 上的社交网络活动来接触目标人群。调查涵盖人口统计学和学术概况、一般知识、预防措施以及对 COVID-19 的看法。使用描述性统计来确定变量的频率和分布，然后使用卡方检验或 Fisher 精确检验（α=0.05）比较不同机构类型和当前入学年份的分布情况。
在 10 天内共收到 833 份有效回复。学生能够识别出疾病的潜伏期、主要症状和传播途径，但在识别导致大流行的病毒名称方面存在困难。在为患者看诊前后洗手（97.7%），然后使用黏膜保护屏障（97.2%）是学生们认为预防牙科诊所 COVID-19 传播的更常见措施。至于对 COVID-19 的看法，73.2%的牙科学生认为该疾病严重，但只有 11.1%的学生认为 COVID-19 仅对有风险因素的人严重。学生的知识和看法与机构类型和入学年份有关。
总体而言，牙科学生对 COVID-19 具有可接受的一般知识，但牙科学校需要解决知识、预防措施和看法方面的差距，以确保安全地恢复面对面活动。
