Comparison of COVID-19 relevant knowledge and attitudes of clinical and preclinical dental students in Turkey

Balkan Journal of Dental Medicine

article

Karaaslan Fatih¹  Dikilitaş Ahu¹  Aydin Esra Özge¹ 

[1] Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Periodontology

关键词: COVID-19;    dental students;    pandemic;   

DOI  :  10.2478/bjdm-2020-0021

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Walter de Gruyter GmbH

【 摘 要 】

Background/Aim: Dental care settings invariably carry the risk of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection because dental practice involves face-to-face communication with patients and the generation of large amounts of aerosol and droplets mixed with patients' saliva. Since droplet and aerosol transmission are the most important concerns in dental clinics, informing future dentists about pandemic diseases at the undergraduate stage is important. In this context, the aim of this study was to compare the knowledge and attitudes of clinical and preclinical dental students regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and Methods: 159 preclinical and 130 clinical dental students were included in this cross sectional study. The researchers developed a closed-ended questionnaire with the help of the existing literature. The questionnaire contained 17 questions about the knowledge and attitudes of dental students regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Clinical students feel significantly more threatened with exposure to COVID-19 infection than preclinical students (p<0.05, chi-square test). The proportion of students who do not want to treat an individual who has had a COVID-19 infection and recovered is statistically higher in clinical students (p<0.05, chi-square test). The proportion of students who think that using protective equipment during dental practice will not protect them against COVID-19 infection is statistically higher in clinical students (p<0.05, chi-square test). Conclusions: More education and training courses are need in order to improve students' knowledge and attitudes regarding newly emerging pandemic diseases.

【 授权许可】

CC BY