Knowledge, attitude, and practice toward prevention of Covid-19 among nursing and midwifery students : a cross-sectional study in Gorgan, northern Iran

Background: Healthcare providers are high-risk groups for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection. Nursing students are an essential part of high-risk healthcare providers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practice of nursing and midwifery students at Golestan University of Medical Sciences (GOUMS) toward the prevention of COVID-19. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 174 nursing and midwifery students of GOUMS (northeast of IRAN) in 2020. Data were gathered using an online questionnaire comprising three parts – Knowledge (8 questions), Attitude (10 questions), and Practice (8 questions) toward the prevention of COVID-19. The range of scores in each subscale (knowledge, attitude, and preventive practices) were 8–24, 10–50, and 8–24, respectively. Data were analyzed using the SPSS v.16 software. The Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests were used for the analysis. Results: Overall, in this study, nursing and midwifery students had a good knowledge (mean score: 23.19 ± 2.56), a positive attitude (mean score: 45.48 ± 4.21), and appropriate practice (mean score: 23.30 ± 3.51) regarding COVID-19 prevention. Also, the results revealed a positive correlation between knowledge and attitude (r = 0.1, P = 0.18) and attitude and practice (r = 0.2, P = 0.01) among the students. Conclusion: The findings demonstrated a good preventive knowledge, attitude, and practice toward COVID-19 among nursing and midwifery students.