Open AccessAdequacy of preventive measures, awareness, and attitude regarding the COVID-19 pandemic among university pharmacy students
Author(s) -
Saba Tariq,
Sundus Tariq,
Mukhtiar Baig,
Saadia Shahzad Alam
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
pharmacy education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.198
H-Index - 17
eISSN - 1477-2701
pISSN - 1560-2214
DOI - 10.46542/pe.2020.202.283289
Subject(s) - pharmacy , preparedness , pandemic , covid-19 , perception , medicine , family medicine , cross sectional study , positive attitude , psychology , disease , medical education , social psychology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , pathology , political science , neuroscience , law
The aim was to investigate the adequacy of preventive measures, awareness, and attitudes of pharmacy university students in the Punjab province, Pakistan, during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: This cross-sectional survey was designed at a private university in Faisalabad, Pakistan. The questionnaire was developed on Google forms and distributed to students of five universities in the Punjab province via WhatsApp groups.Results: The comparison of COVID-19 knowledge for specific questions showed that non-pharmacy students (NPS) had significantly better knowledge about the source of the virus (p<0.001), while pharmacy students (PS) had better knowledge regarding COVID-19 treatment (p=0.01). The PS’s perception of the dangerousness and risk of contracting COVID-19 infection was better than NPS’s perception (p=0.026; p=0.019, respectively). The regression analysis revealed that the knowledge score was negatively associated with the female gender, and females were less likely to have a positive attitude.Conclusion: The authors’ results suggest that PS had good knowledge, positive attitude, and preparedness towards COVID-19. However, there are still misconceptions and confusion about the disease.