Relationships between Knowledge and Attitude to Preventive Behavior against Corona Virus (COVID 19) in Nursing Students

Abstract

The novel corona virus is the leading cause of the global spread of corona virus (COVID 19), which represented infection and death. However, prevention is the best options. In particular, nursing students as people who take care of public health, need knowledge of the corona virus, attitude about the corona virus, and the correct behavior in corona virus prevention. This correlational descriptive study explored the relationship between knowledge of corona virus (COVID 19), attitude of corona virus (COVID 19) and preventive behavior against corona virus (COVID 19) among nursing students. A purposive sampling technique was used to recruit 216 of Nursing Student of Faculty of Nursing, Rajabhat Nakhon Pathom University. The instruments included three questionnaires: 1) Knowledge of Corona Virus (COVID 19) Scale, 2) Attitude of Corona Virus (COVID 19) Scale, and 3) Preventive Behavior against Corona Virus (COVID 19) Scale, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient equal to .80, .90 and .82, respectively. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation coefficient The results showed that Knowledge of Corona Virus (COVID 19) and Attitude of Corona Virus (COVID 19) were at a high level, while Preventive Behavior against Corona Virus (COVID 19 was at most level. There was a significant moderate positive relationship between attitude of corona virus (COVID 19), and preventive behavior against corona virus (COVID 19) (r=.45, p<0.001). Knowledge of Corona Virus (COVID 19) was not related to preventive behavior against corona virus (COVID 19). Therefore, the promotion of nursing students to have a good attitude towards the prevention of corona virus, it will help students to have better prevention behavior.