Knowledge, Attitude, Practice and Fear of COVID-19 among Biology Students: Implications for Communicable Diseases

Abstract

Knowledge, Attitude, Practice (KAP), and Fear of COVID-19 (FOC) are important for planning effective public health prevention and control strategies for infectious diseases. There is limited integration of both KAP and fear (FOC) variables among university students, especially in Nigeria. This study aimed to survey the KAP and FOC and to investigate their relationships among biology students in a Nigerian university. A survey was conducted cross-sectionally to elicit responses regarding the KAP and FOC among 1,919 biology students between January and July, 2021. Univariate and bivariate analyses were performed on the data collected. Results revealed that 64.5% of the participants had correct knowledge; with significant differences in bivariate analyses. Also, 56.86 % participants reported positive attitudes; females, biology majors and science students exhibited greater positive attitude than males, non-biology majors and non-science students (p<0.05), while 65.16% participants exhibited proactive practice. The overall moderately high score for Knowledge was 3.22 ± 1.23 (range: 0 - 5), Attitude was 7.55 ± 2.35 (range: 0 -10), and Practice was 7.52 ± 2.33 (range: 0 - 10) while the total KAP score was 18.30 ± 4.68 (range: 0-25), despite having a low fear of COVID-19 score (19.48) among the students. Majority of the students exhibit adequate knowledge, proactive practice, positive attitude; and low fear of the pandemic; but KAP and fear scores disparity exist across groups. These results have vital implications when planning prevention of future pandemics.