Attitude and knowledge of medical and dental students of the University of Split School of Medicine toward vaccination against COVID-19 disease

Abstract

Cilj istraživanja: Glavni cilj ovog istraživanja bio je procijeniti stavove studenata medicine i dentalne medicine o cijepljenju protiv COVID-19 bolesti, utvrditi razlikuju li se stavovi studenata pretkliničkih i kliničkih godina studija, te studenta koji su preboljeli bolest COVID-19. Ispitanici i postupci: Provedeno je presječno istraživanje u svrhu ispitivanja stavova studenata medicine i dentalne medicine Medicinskog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Splitu o cijepljenju protiv COVID-19 bolesti. Podaci su prikupljeni rješavanjem anketnog upitnika putem Google forms internetske aplikacije tijekom lipnja 2021. Upitnik se sastojao od ukupno 34. pitanja, uključujući peterostupanjsku Likertovu skalu koja je sadržavala 27 tvrdnji. Za analizu podataka korišten je statistički software MedCalc® Rezultati: Nije pronađena statistički značajna razlika između studenata pretkliničhih i kliničkih godina studija na osnovu općih stavova o cjepivima (P=0,113) ili stavova o COVID-19 cjepivima (P=0,236). Većina studenata (50,8%) smatra da su na fakultetu stekli dovoljno informacija o COVID-19 bolesti, te da se osjećaju sposobnim informirati populaciju o njoj. Procijepljenost studenata koji su preboljeli COVID-19 bolest je drastično niža od onih koji je nisu preboljeli (P<0,001). Također, znatno veći broj studenata koji su preboljeli COVID-19 smatraju da je imunitet stečen cjepivom kratkotrajan i nezadovoljavajuć u usporedbi s imunitetom stečenim nakon preboljele infekcije (P<0,001), te da se ljudi koji su preboljeli COVID-19 ne bi trebali cijepiti (P=0,009). Većina studenata smatra da se pojedinac nakon cijepljenja jednako treba pridržavati epidemioloških mjera kao i prije te tvrde da će ih se oni jednako pridržavati i nakon što se procijepi većina populacije, ali da bi epidemiološke mjere trebale biti blaže za one koji su se cijepili. Zaključci: Studijom je pokazano da se opći stavovi studenata o cijepljenju pozitivni i da se ne razlikuju drastično među studentima pretklinikih i kliničkih godina studija. Međutim, studenti koji su preboljeli COVID-19 bolest imaju kritičnija mišljenja o imunitetu stečenom cjepivom protiv COVID-19, te ih znatno više smatra da je cijepljenje nakon preboljene bolesti nepotrebno.Objective: The main objective of this study was to assess the differences in attitudes concerning vaccination against COVID-19 disease in medical and dental students, as well as to compare those attitudes between preclinical and clinical students. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the attitudes of medical and dental students toward vaccination against COVID-19 disease. The data was collected using a survey questionnaire via the Google forms online application during June of 2021. The questionnaire consisted of 34 questions total, including a five-point Likert scale that contained 27 statements. MedCalc® statistical software was used for data analysis. Results: No statistically significant difference was found between general attitudes of preclinical and clinical students towards vaccines (P = 0.113), nor attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines (P = 0.236). The majority of students (50.8%) believe that they have gained enough information about COVID-19 during their education, and that they feel able to inform the larger population about it. Vaccination of students who had COVID-19 was drastically lower than those who did not (P <0.001). In addition, a significantly higher number of students who overcame COVID-19 consider that the immunity acquired by the vaccine is short-lived and unsatisfactory compared to the immunity acquired after infection (P <0.001), and that people who overcame COVID-19 should not be vaccinated (P = 0.009). Most students believe that a person should follow the same epidemiological measures after vaccination as before and say that they will follow them equally after the majority of the population has been vaccinated, but that the epidemiological measures should be milder for those who have been vaccinated. Conclusions: The study has shown that the general attitudes of students towards vaccination are positive and not differ drastically between preclinical and clinical students. However, the students who had overcome COVID-19 disease have a more critical opinion on immunity acquired by COVID-19 vaccine and believe that vaccination after overcoming the disease is unnecessary