Knowledge, awareness, and attitude about novel corona virus disease among undergraduate, interns, and postgraduate dental students – A questionnaire-based survey

Abstract

Background: The extensive blowout of COVID-19 globally increases the probability that dental health care professionals will treat this subset of the patient population. If this virus follows the same pattern of other coronavirus infections it is anticipated to indisputably persists as a less virulent infection in our population with milder symptom. Hence, dental students are urged to have thorough knowledge, and keep themselves updated with the practice guidelines regarding this disease. Aims and Objectives: To assess the level of knowledge, awareness, and their influence on the attitude concerning the emergent pandemic COVID-19 among postgraduates (PGs), interns, and undergraduate (UG) dental students. Materials and Methods: A 21 closed-ended questionnaire was framed with three sections which included knowledge, awareness, and attitude which was face and content validated and circulated in Google form among study participants via various social media forums. Statistical analysis of the data was performed using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) version 20.0. Results: A total of 316 responses were obtained in which 11 unfilled or partially filled responses were excluded and 305 responses were included for analysis. PGs had more knowledge, awareness, and attitude than interns, followed by UGs. Conclusion: This survey not only recorded the knowledge, awareness, and attitude among the future dental professionals but also acts an indicator of the need for amendments to combat the lacunae especially in the learning dentist population to intensify upcoming dental practice in the post pandemic era.

Keywords

• attitude
• awareness
• covid 19
• dental students
• knowledge