Knowledge, Perception and Practice of Children and Adolescents towards COVID-19 Pandemic in Egypt

Abstract

Background: As research about COVID-19 continues, a lot of facts keep on changing and many myths are also prevalent regarding the prevention and management of the infection. Objective(s): The aim of the present study was to assess the current knowledge, perception and practice towards COVID-19 pandemic among children and adolescents in Egypt. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 512 children and adolescents, aged 6-18 years living in different Egyptian cities, during the first half of July 2020, by an anonymous online questionnaire; designed to assess knowledge, perception and practices of children and adolescents towards COVID-19 disease. Results: The study included 512 participants. The mean age was 13.39 ± 3.24 years and 65.2% were females. About half of the participants perceived the situation in Egypt as bad, and 41.5% as getting worse, 47.7% thought that media is not telling the truth, 6.7% thought people were respecting lockdown, 40.2% had expectations that COVID-19 will end soon and 37.5% expected that they will return to school regularly in the next academic year. The general knowledge was good in 58% and poor in 1.2% of participants. The mode of transmission knowledge was good in 58% and poor in 11.7% of participants. The disease prevention knowledge was good in 68.3% and poor in 9.4% of participants. The practice of participants was good in 16.2% and poor in 11.3%. Overall knowledge and practice significantly improved with increased age. Practice was significantly better in females than in males. Conclusion: Knowledge of children and adolescents about COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt was good, while their practice towards the pandemic was fair. It has shown that good knowledge does not necessarily result in good practice.