Factors related to nursing students' behavior for personal protection against Monkeypox at Western University, Buriram Campus, Thailand.

BACKGROUND

Mpox, previously known as Monkeypox, is a viral infection transmitted from animals to humans. It has symptoms similar to smallpox or cowpox, which has been severely epidemic and claimed many lives. In July 2022, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study aimed to explore the relationship between personal factors, knowledge about monkeypox, attitude toward monkeypox prevention, and behavior to prevent monkeypox among nursing students at Western University, Buriram Campus, Thailand. This cross-sectional descriptive study consisted of 430 nursing students selected by purposive sampling. Data were collected by using a questionnaire on personal data, knowledge about monkeypox, attitude toward monkeypox prevention, and behavior to prevent monkeypox. Statistics were used, while Chi-Square and Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficient were used to identify factors related to monkeypox self-protective behavior.

RESULTS

The results of the study found that the sample group knew about monkeypox, attitude toward monkeypox prevention, and monkeypox self-protective behavior at high levels of 56.3, 6, 6.7, and 81.2, respectively. Factors that were significantly related to monkeypox self-protective behavior among nursing students at Western University, Buriram Campus, included knowledge about monkeypox and attitude toward monkeypox prevention ( = 0.099, 0.309), respectively ( < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The results of the study concluded that knowledge about monkeypox and attitude toward monkeypox prevention in nursing students are important for effective monkeypox prevention. In addition, stricter monkeypox prevention should be implemented because the number of monkeypox infections reported in various media has decreased, causing the general public to be less aware of self-protection.