Abstract
Medical Students' Awareness of COVID-19 Against the Background of Remote Learning
Author(s): Vladislav R. Kuchma, Anna Yu. Makarova*, Nataliya L. Yamschikova, Elena V. Naryshkina, Anna R. Virabova and Artem A. FedorininThe article presents an assessment of the knowledge and awareness of university students about the sources of COVID-19 data. The 27-question survey was conducted between 15 and 30 June 2020 with the participation of 142 medical university students. Conducted one-factor analysis of students' awareness of COVID-19, ways of obtaining vital health information, individual self-efficacy of preventive interventions in the conditions of pandemic stress, and remote learning was based on students’ responses.
71.8% of respondents named the Internet and social networks as the sources of information on COVID-19. In the conditions of self-isolation, students' screen time had increased by 68%.
COVID-19 was assessed as a serious global threat to public health at an average of 4.3, with the threat of the virus spreading rated as sufficiently ‘neurotic’ (65.5%, with an average result of 3.06; SD=1.31). Respondents rated their chances to contract COVID-19 on average as 3.26 (SD=1.34), 52.8% regarded COVID-19 as threatening to health, and 47.2% expressed fear for loved ones and families. 65.5% cast some doubts about the imminent end of a pandemic threat.
Students demonstrated a lack of knowledge about COVID-19, but correctly noted the activities that reduce its spread. The uncertainty of the majority of respondents and the increased anxiety determine the lack of individual self-efficacy of interventions that reduce the risk of the virus spreading.
Therefore, the public requires continuous education and reliable facts on COVID-19 to address the problem of the abundance of misinformation posted on the Internet and social networking, both in the contexts of well-being and further pandemic development.