IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i16p8706-d616616.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Cross-Sectional Study to Assess Knowledge of COVID-19 among Undergraduate Students in North-Central Ecuador

Author

Listed:
  • David Ortega-Paredes

    (Unidad de Investigación de Enfermedades Transmitidas por Alimentos y Resistencia a los Antimicrobianos (UNIETAR), Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Central del Ecuador, Quito 170129, Ecuador
    Facultad de Ciencias Médicas Enrique Ortega Moreira, Carrera de Medicina, Universidad Espíritu Santo, Km 2.5 vía Samborondón 0901952, Ecuador
    Research Unit Life Science Initiative (LSI), Quito 170102, Ecuador)

  • César Marcelo Larrea-Álvarez

    (Research Unit Life Science Initiative (LSI), Quito 170102, Ecuador)

  • Santiago Isaac Jijón

    (School of Biological Science and Engineering, Yachay-Tech University, Hacienda San José, Urcuquí 100650, Ecuador)

  • Karen Loaiza

    (Research Unit Life Science Initiative (LSI), Quito 170102, Ecuador)

  • Miroslava Anna Šefcová

    (Research Unit Life Science Initiative (LSI), Quito 170102, Ecuador)

  • Gabriel Molina-Cuasapaz

    (Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias y Recursos Naturales, Carrera de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidad Técnica de Cotopaxi, Latacunga 050101, Ecuador)

  • Pedro Barba

    (Carrera de Biotecnología, Facultad de Ingeniería en Ciencias Agropecuarias y Ambientales, Universidad Técnica del Norte, Ibarra 100105, Ecuador)

  • Christian Vinueza-Burgos

    (Unidad de Investigación de Enfermedades Transmitidas por Alimentos y Resistencia a los Antimicrobianos (UNIETAR), Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Central del Ecuador, Quito 170129, Ecuador)

  • Esteban Fernandez-Moreira

    (Facultad de Ciencias Médicas Enrique Ortega Moreira, Carrera de Medicina, Universidad Espíritu Santo, Km 2.5 vía Samborondón 0901952, Ecuador)

  • Hégira Ramírez

    (Escuela de Medicina, Universidad de Las Américas, Quito 170517, Ecuador)

  • Marco Larrea-Álvarez

    (School of Biological Science and Engineering, Yachay-Tech University, Hacienda San José, Urcuquí 100650, Ecuador)

Abstract

Adherence to preventive measures is influenced by people’s knowledge, attitudes and practices towards a disease; therefore, assessing knowledge of COVID-19 is critical in the overall effort to contain the outbreak. This cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduates ( n = 3621) of different programs and different levels of education associated with universities in north-central Ecuador. The form consisted of 32 questions covering demographics, symptoms, detection, treatment, transmission, prevention and knowledge of the virus. The rate of correct answers was 75.5% (21.1 ± 5 out of 28), with differences observed regarding program of study, educational level and location of institution (α = 0.05), although effect size analyses showed that these differences could not be considered large. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that lower scores were associated with initial stages of education, careers related to social sciences and location of institution. Participants possessed sufficient knowledge about detection, transmission and prevention, although they overestimated fatality rate and were less confident about the characteristics of the virus and the effectiveness of traditional medicine. Consequently, future educational programs must place emphasis on addressing deficient knowledge. Certainly, improving COVID-19 literacy will promote the appropriate application of protective measures aimed at preventing the virus’ spread.

Suggested Citation

  • David Ortega-Paredes & César Marcelo Larrea-Álvarez & Santiago Isaac Jijón & Karen Loaiza & Miroslava Anna Šefcová & Gabriel Molina-Cuasapaz & Pedro Barba & Christian Vinueza-Burgos & Esteban Fernande, 2021. "A Cross-Sectional Study to Assess Knowledge of COVID-19 among Undergraduate Students in North-Central Ecuador," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-15, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:16:p:8706-:d:616616
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/16/8706/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/16/8706/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Takele T. Desta & Tewodros Mulugeta, 2020. "Living with COVID-19-triggered pseudoscience and conspiracies," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 65(6), pages 713-714, July.
    2. Conner, Mark & McEachan, Rosemary & Lawton, Rebecca & Gardner, Peter, 2017. "Applying the reasoned action approach to understanding health protection and health risk behaviors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 140-148.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David Ortega-Paredes & Jeannete Zurita & Camilo Zurita & Paula Leoro-Garzón & Galo Leoro-Monroy & César Marcelo Larrea-Álvarez & Karen Loaiza & Esteban Fernandez-Moreira & Gabriel Molina-Cuasapaz & Ma, 2021. "An On-Line Cross-Sectional Questionnaire to Assess Knowledge of COVID-19 Pandemic among Citizens Tested for the SARS-CoV-2 Virus in Quito and Ibarra, Ecuador," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-15, February.
    2. Ying-Hsuan Chen & Shun-Lung Chao & Yen-Wei Chu, 2022. "Effects of Perceived Benefit on Vitamin D Supplementation Intention: A Theory of Planned Behaviour Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-18, February.
    3. Damian J. Rivers & Giancarla Unser-Schutz & Nathanael Rudolph, 2023. "Vaccine Hesitancy and Susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 Misinformation in Japanese Youth: The Contribution of Personality Traits and National Identity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(1), pages 1-20, December.
    4. Jack P Hughes & Alexandros Efstratiou & Sara R Komer & Lilli A Baxter & Milica Vasiljevic & Ana C Leite, 2022. "The impact of risk perceptions and belief in conspiracy theories on COVID-19 pandemic-related behaviours," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(2), pages 1-20, February.
    5. Huang, Qian & Gilkey, Melissa B. & Thompson, Peyton & Grabert, Brigid K. & Dailey, Susan Alton & Brewer, Noel T., 2022. "Explaining higher Covid-19 vaccination among some US primary care professionals," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    6. Muhammad Zeeshan Zafar & Adnan Maqbool & Lucian-Ionel Cioca & Syed Ghulam Meran Shah & Shahjahan Masud, 2021. "Accentuating the Interrelation between Consumer Intention and Healthy Packaged Food Selection during COVID-19: A Case Study of Pakistan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-14, March.
    7. Hagger, Martin S. & Polet, Juho & Lintunen, Taru, 2018. "The reasoned action approach applied to health behavior: Role of past behavior and tests of some key moderators using meta-analytic structural equation modeling," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 85-94.
    8. Vicente Javier Clemente-Suárez & Eduardo Navarro-Jiménez & Juan Antonio Simón-Sanjurjo & Ana Isabel Beltran-Velasco & Carmen Cecilia Laborde-Cárdenas & Juan Camilo Benitez-Agudelo & Álvaro Bustamante-, 2022. "Mis–Dis Information in COVID-19 Health Crisis: A Narrative Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-24, April.
    9. repec:thr:techub:10010:y:2020:i:1:p:189-200 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Maltez Mabuie, 2020. "Role of peer educators in behaviour change communication interventions for HIV prevention among people who inject drugs: Systematic review article," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 10(1), pages 189-200, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:16:p:8706-:d:616616. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.