Zuhal GÖRÜŞ, Devrim Deniz ÜNER, Ahmet ARAS, Sedef AKYOL

Evaluation of attitudes and knowledge levels of dental students regarding COVID-19

Aim: This study aimed to determine the attitude and knowledge levels of the students of Harran University Faculty of Dentistry about novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and to evaluate their thoughts on distance education.Materials and Methods: An online questionnaire about COVID-19 was conducted to students studying in the Faculty of Dentistry (n=144). The questionnaire consisted of a series of questions such as the demographic features of dentistry students, their degree of knowledge about COVID-19, where they got this information, methods of protection related to COVID-19, their psychological status during this pandemic period and their thoughts about the distance education program. The data obtained from the questionnaires were statistically analyzed.Results: This current study consisted of 144 participants (mean age of 20±1.3) including 83 (57.6%) females and 61 (42.4%) males. The majority of the participants (76.4%) stated that they learned information related to COVID-19 from the Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Turkish Dental Association (TDA). The most common individual measure was determined 'not to be in crowded environments' (86.1%). During this period, 124 (86.1%) participants, consisting of 43 (34.7%) male and 81 (65.3%) female, reported that they voluntarily put themselves into quarantine (p

PDF

___

1. Wang C, Horby PW, Hayden FG, et al. A novel coronavirus outbreak of global health concern. Lancet 2020;395:470-3.
2. Report of the WHO-China Joint Mission on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Geneva; 2020.
3. Knight A, Li D, Uyttendaele M, et al. A critical review of methods for detecting human noroviruses and predicting their infectivity. Crit Rev Microbiol 2013;39:295-309.
4. Mou H, Raj VS, Van Kuppeveld FJ, et al. The receptor binding domain of the new Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus maps to a 231-residue region in the spike protein that efficiently elicits neutralizing antibodies. J Virol 2013;87:9379-83.
5. Who. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation report–51; 2020.
6. Coronavirus Outbreak. [cited 2020 13 Apr]; Available from: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/.
7. She J, Jiang J, Ye L, et al. 2019 novel coronavirus of pneumonia in Wuhan, China: emerging attack and management strategies. Clin Transl Med 2020;9:19.
8. Zhu N, Zhang D, Wang W, et al. A Novel Coronavirus from Patients with Pneumonia in China, 2019. N Engl J Med 2020;382:727-33.
9. Lu R, Zhao X, Li J, et al. Genomic characterisation and epidemiology of 2019 novel coronavirus: implications for virus origins and receptor binding. Lancet 2020;395:565-74.
10. Khader Y, Al Nsour M, Al-Batayneh OB, et al. Dentists’ awareness, perception, and attitude regarding COVID-19 and infection control: cross-sectional study among Jordanian dentists. JMIR Public Health Surveill 2020;6:e18798.
11. Gamio L. The workers who face the greatest coronavirus risk. New York Times 2020.
12. Dave M, Seoudi N, Coulthard P. Urgent dental care for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lancet 2020;395:1257.
13. Olapegba PO, Ayandele O. Survey data of COVID- 19-related Knowledge, Risk Perceptions and Precautionary Behavior among Nigerians. Data Brief 2020:105685.
14. Alhaj AK, Al-Saadi T, Mohammad F, et al. Neurosurgery Residents Perspective on the COVID-19: Knowledge, Readiness, and Impact of this Pandemic. World Neurosurg 2020.
15. Duruk G, Gumusboga ZS, Colak C. Investigation of Turkish dentists' clinical attitudes and behaviors towards the COVID-19 pandemic: a survey study. Braz Oral Res 2020;34:e054.
16. Nour MO, Babilghith AO, Natto HA, et al. Knowledge, attitude and practices of healthcare providers towards MERS-CoV infection at Makkah hospitals, KSA. Int Res J Med Med Sci 2015;3:103-12.
17. Taghrir MH, Borazjani R, Shiraly R. COVID-19 and Iranian Medical Students; A Survey on Their Related- Knowledge, Preventive Behaviors and Risk Perception. Arch Iran Med 2020;23:249-54.
18. Zhong B-L, Luo W, Li H-M, et al. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards COVID-19 among Chinese residents during the rapid rise period of the COVID-19 outbreak: a quick online cross-sectional survey. Int J Biol Sci 2020;16:1745.
19. Galle F, Sabella EA, Da Molin G, et al. Understanding knowledge and behaviors related to CoViD-19 epidemic in Italian undergraduate students: The EPICO Study. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2020;17:3481.
20. Samaranayake LP, Peiris M. Severe acute respiratory syndrome and dentistry: a retrospective view. J Am Dent Assoc 2004;135:1292-302.
21. Li RW, Leung KW, Sun FC, et al. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the GDP. Part II: implications for GDPs. Br Dent J 2004;197:130-4.