Assessment of covid-19 self-protective practices and associated factors among secondary school students in jimma town, jimma, oromia, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: School student are one of the vulnerable groups to coronavirus (COVID-19) due to different factors (such as crowding) which can potentially increase the risk of transmissions of this virus. Thus, school students could play a crucial role in the prevention and the spread of this disease. However, evidence is lacking regarding COVID-19 self-protective practices and associated factors among school students. Objectives: To assess COVID-19 self-protective practices and associated factors among secondary school students in Jimma town. Methods: A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Jimma town, Oromia, Ethiopia, from May 25 to June 10, 2021. The total sample size was 634 who were randomly selected from both public and private secondary schools. Self-administered questionaries were used to collect the data. The data were cleaned, and entered into, and analyzed using SPSS 21.0 statistical software package. Composite index (after adjusted the score adjusted to 0-50 score) was computed for each dimension and constructs for the health belief model. Descriptive statistics such as proportion and mean were computed to describe the findings and linear regression was used to identify predictor of self-protective behavior. Results: In this study, the four most mentioned symptoms of COVID-19 by respondents were fever (96.7%), dry cough (89.6%), difficult breathing (86.3%), and sore throat (83.9%). Most of the participants (95.8%) knew that COVID-19 spreads through respiratory droplets, (90.3%) direct contact with contaminated hands (87.2%) kissing or greetings (95%) handshaking, and (93.2%) crowded area. Almost all (96%) know that the use of facemask prevents COVID-19. Similarly, 96.4% of the participants know that avoiding touching eyes, nose, and mouth before washing hands is one way of preventing the method of COVID-19 and 93.1% of the respondents also know that keeping a physical distance is also the other mechanism to prevent the disease. For multidimensional knowledge, the score the highest mean was recorded for knowledge of ways COVID-19 preventive and safety practices (mean=46.0, possible value=0-50), and the lowest mean knowledge score was observed for knowledge of ways of transmissions or spread of the coronavirus (mean=25.6, possible value=0-50). The mean score for overall knowledge was found to be 31.2 (SD=8.6). Likewise, the mean score for perceived vulnerability, severity, benefits, barriers, self-efficacy and school support were 33.4, 31.7, 43.1, 16.2, 33.4, and 25.5, respectively. On the other hand, COVID-19 self-protective measure was not optimal (mean 25.5), indicating a huge gap. Perceived benefits (0.348, p=0.000), self-efficacy (β=0.080, p=0.036), and perceived school support (β=0.360, p=0.000) independently predicted increased self-care practices. Conversely, perceived vulnerability (β=-0.339, p=0.000) and maternal education are associated with negative or decreased self-care practices. Conclusions: Despite knowledge of the disease (COVD-19), transmissions and preventive measures were quite high, the level of adherence to self-protective behaviors was unsatisfactory. Maternal education, perceived susceptibility, self-efficiency, perceived benefits, and school support to COVID-19 self-protective practice were factors significantly affecting the practice of COVID-19 self-protective measure among secondary school students.