간호대학생, 보건계열 대학생 및 타 전공 대학생의 COVID-19 관련 지식, 태도, 감염예방행위 이행도 비교

Correlations among Knowledge, Attitude, and Compliance with Preventive Behaviors of COVID-19 among College Students: A Three-Group (Nursing, Other Health Sciences, and Non-Health Sciences) Comparative Study

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the correlations among college students’ knowledge, attitudes, and compliance with preventative behaviors regarding COVID-19; and compare these COVID-19-related perspectives among college students majoring in nursing, other health sciences, and non-health sciences. Methods: Using a descriptive-comparative study design, college students participated in a web-based survey using Google form. Spearman correlation coefficients and the Kruskal-Wallis test were performed using IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY) to examine the correlations among the variables of knowledge, attitudes, and compliance with preventative behaviors regarding COVID-19. Further, these differences were examined among the three groups of college students. Results: A total of 400 students participated in this study (nursing, n=178; other health sciences, n=61; non-health sciences, n=161). Attitudes had a significant but mild level of correlation with compliance with preventative behaviors regarding COVID-19 (p ＜.001). A significant difference was found in attitudes, with nursing students and other health science students having more positive attitudes toward COVID-19 guidelines than non-health science students (H=6.63, p =.036). Conclusion: There was a significant correlation between attitudes and compliance with preventative behaviors regarding COVID-19. Meanwhile, attitudes were stronger in college students majoring in nursing and other health sciences, compared to students in non-health sciences. Thus, an effective strategy to increase the positive attitudes of college students toward COVID-19 is likely to promote compliance with preventative behaviors regarding COVID-19 guidelines among college students. In particular, it should target college students majoring in other disciplines than nursing and other health sciences.