Medical faculty students risk perception, attitudes, and behaviors regarding protection from COVID-19 infection

This study aims to determine the risk perception, attitude, and behavior characteristics of Pamukkale University Faculty of Medicine students towards protection from COVID-19.

A total of 698 (48.2%) students of Pamukkale University Faculty of Medicine participated in this analytical cross-sectional study. Dependent variables were attitudes and behaviors related to protection from COVID-19, and independent variables were socio-demographic characteristics, sources of information about COVID-19, and health status. Data was collected through a survey using Google Forms. SPSS 17.0 (Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) software package was used for statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics were expressed as numbers and percentages for nominal data and mean and standard deviation for numerical data. Numerical data were compared with Mann Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis tests. Spearman correlation and backward linear regression analyses were used. A p-value of <0.05 was considered significant.

The mean age of 698 students participating in the study was 21.8±2.2, and 60% of them were female. The mean attitude score was 54.99±5.17 and the mean behavior score was 50.64±6.06. The information sources of the students about COVID-19 were TV news (69.3%). Linear regression analysis revealed that attitude scores of the female gender were higher than male gender (β=0.757±0.364 p=0.038, 95% CI: 0.440-1.471) and scores for using websites/social media accounts of professional organizations and professional associations as information sources were higher than not using (β=0.981 ± 0.388 p=0.011 95% CI: 0.230-1.732).

Medical students' attitude and behavior score towards protection against COVID-19 infection is slightly above the average level. Medical education should prepare students to manage epidemics.