Knowledge, Attitudes, and Preventative Practices (KAPs) Towards COVID-19 Among International Students in China.

PURPOSE

The study aimed to find out about the knowledge, attitudes, and preventative practices of COVID-19 among international students in China during the pandemic.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

A cross-section survey was conducted among 300 international students from 13 different universities in Hubei province of China between March and April 2020 which relied upon convenience sampling method.

RESULTS

Out of 300 respondents, 153 (51%) of the respondents were female students, of which the majority were single, undergraduate students who were doing medicine (163, 54.3%) and engineering programs (68, 22.7%). The majority of international students had an impressive knowledge on the causes, risks, and spread of COVID-19, and that they were no misconception of the pandemic 229 (76%) to 281 (98%) respectively. These students also demonstrated a markedly positive attitude towards the virus and a feeling that they were almost completely safe being in China (264, 84%). Variations were found on Knowledge scores in age group (<0.01) and majors (=0.025), attitude scores on major of study (=0.015), and experience (<0.01). Furthermore, the results revealed that all the students (300, 100%) adhered to and practiced set preventive measures against COVID-19 and that there was a positive correlation between attitudes and preventative practices (r=0.219, <0.01).

CONCLUSION

This study found that social media platform was contributing enormously towards information dissemination and Chinese universities were commended for their continuous notifications on COVID-19 which helped students to have full knowledge. This, in turn, was instrumental in helping students to form good attitudes and practices towards COVID-19.