Background: Healthcare students are a force that will aid healthcare workers in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and preventive practices (KAP) towards COVID-19 for this population in Vietnam.
Methods: An online-based cross-sectional survey was considered with all students at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City (UMP), Vietnam, between June and August 2020. A structured questionnaire was used to assess KAP towards COVID-19 with response having considerable data missing in the areas of KAP being excluded from the analysis. All data were analysed by using STATA 14 software, to determine the factors associated with preventive practices, and a multivariable regression analysis was performed, along with odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI).
Results: A total of 2351 eligible participants completed the survey, 65.6% of whom were female, and their mean age was 21.9 years old (SD = 2.7). Almost all had sufficient knowledge (86.6%) and good preventive practice (92.8%) towards COVID-19; however, there was also a rather low level of positive attitude recorded, at 68.8%. The multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that the female participants, and the receiving of information from the official websites, reported a significantly higher level of good practice. Besides, students who had a high level of sufficient knowledge and positive attitude towards COVID-19 were more likely to have good preventive practices (All p< 0.001).
Conclusion: The findings demonstrated good preventive practice towards COVID-19; however, sufficient knowledge and positive attitude were lower. Therefore, it is an identified requirement to continue with additional education and training strategies to offer a better understanding and positive viewpoint of the pandemic for all students, including healthcare students.



中文翻译：

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越南医疗保健学生对 COVID-19 的知识、态度和实践


背景：医疗保健学生是帮助医疗工作者应对 COVID-19 大流行的一支力量。本研究旨在评估越南人群对 COVID-19 的知识、态度和预防措施 (KAP)。

方法： 2020 年 6 月至 8 月期间，对越南胡志明市医药大学 (UMP) 的所有学生进行了一项基于在线的横断面调查。使用结构化调查问卷来评估对新冠病毒的 KAP 19 答复中，KAP 领域缺少大量数据，被排除在分析之外。所有数据均使用 STATA 14 软件进行分析，以确定与预防措施相关的因素，并进行多变量回归分析以及比值比 (OR) 和 95% 置信区间 (95% CI)。

结果：共有 2351 名符合条件的参与者完成了调查，其中 65.6% 为女性，平均年龄为 21.9 岁（SD = 2.7）。几乎所有人都对 COVID-19 有足够的了解（86.6%）和良好的预防实践（92.8%）；然而，积极态度的比例也相当低，为 68.8%。多变量逻辑回归分析表明，女性参与者以及从官方网站接收信息时报告的良好实践水平明显更高。此外，对 COVID-19 有足够知识和积极态度的学生更有可能采取良好的预防措施（所有 p < 0.001）。

结论：研究结果证明了针对 COVID-19 的良好预防措施；然而，足够的知识和积极的态度较低。因此，明确要求继续实施额外的教育和培训策略，以便为包括医疗保健学生在内的所有学生提供对这一流行病更好的理解和积极的观点。