Jamil Omer Bin Khalid, Muhib Muhammad, Abbal Muhammad Anas, Ahmed Amna Muhammed, Khan Hafsa Hayat, Khan Nabeela Yar
Department of Surgery, United Medical & Dental College, Affiliated by Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Karachi, Pakistan.
The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
SAGE Open Med. 2022 May 13;10:20503121221094208. doi: 10.1177/20503121221094208. eCollection 2022.
COVID-19 pandemic brought mortalities, morbidities, fear, and financial despair among people around the world. As it advanced, misinformation and myths about it caught wildfire, contributing to misbelief among the already shocked population. Medical students are the building blocks of the medical community and can provide a pivotal role in combating COVID-19 misinformation by delivering correct knowledge and awareness to the non-medical population of the country. Hence, it is important to assess their knowledge and perception of COVID-19 myths. Therefore, this study evaluates medical student's knowledge regarding myths and misinformation related to COVID-19 infection and its vaccine. The study also assesses the belief of medical students on various conspiracy theories of COVID-19.
An online cross-sectional survey was conducted among 401 undergraduate medical students of Karachi in June-August 2021. A validated, structured, and self-administrated questionnaire was used for data collection. The data were entered on an open EPI version 3.01 and Statistical Package of Social Science version 26 for analysis. A chi-square test was performed to identify determinant factors. All p-values less than 0.05 were considered significant.
Overall knowledge score of participants about myths and misinformation related to COVID-19 and its vaccine was as follows: 166 (28.9) participants possess good knowledge, while 167 (41.6) and 118 (29.4) had moderate to poor knowledge, respectively. Senior students, vaccinated, and participants infected by COVID-19 had good to moderate knowledge. Overall, 139 (34.7) participants strongly disagree and 103 (25.7) participants somewhat disagree with conspiracy theories related to COVID-19. Absence of belief in the conspiracies is associated with vaccinated participants.
The study shows that most medical students possess adequate knowledge of misinformation about COVID-19 and its vaccines, and have low belief in conspiracy theories of COVID-19.
新冠疫情给全球人民带来了死亡、疾病、恐惧和经济绝望。随着疫情的发展，关于它的错误信息和谣言迅速传播，导致本就震惊的民众产生错误观念。医学生是医学界的基石，通过向本国非医学人群传播正确的知识和提高认识，他们在抗击新冠错误信息方面可以发挥关键作用。因此，评估他们对新冠谣言的了解和认知很重要。所以，本研究评估医学生对与新冠感染及其疫苗相关的谣言和错误信息的了解情况。该研究还评估了医学生对各种新冠阴谋论的看法。
2021年6月至8月，对卡拉奇的401名医科本科生进行了一项在线横断面调查。使用经过验证的、结构化的自填问卷进行数据收集。数据录入开放的EPI 3.01版本和社会科学统计软件包26版进行分析。进行卡方检验以确定决定因素。所有p值小于0.05被认为具有统计学意义。
参与者关于与新冠及其疫苗相关的谣言和错误信息的总体知识得分如下：166名（28.9%）参与者知识掌握良好，而167名（41.6%）和118名（29.4%）分别具有中等至较差的知识水平。高年级学生、接种过疫苗的学生以及感染过新冠的参与者知识掌握良好至中等。总体而言，139名（34.7%）参与者强烈不同意，103名（25.7%）参与者有点不同意与新冠相关的阴谋论。不相信这些阴谋论与接种过疫苗的参与者有关。
该研究表明，大多数医学生对新冠及其疫苗的错误信息有足够的了解，并且对新冠阴谋论的相信程度较低。
