A Peer-Based Educational Intervention Effects on SARS-CoV-2 Knowledge and Attitudes among Polish High-School Students

To support high school students to develop knowledge they need to adhere to control measures during the pandemic, a peer-based educational intervention on SARS-CoV-2 was developed and its impact was evaluated. Multistage random sampling was used. The 50 min peer-based intervention was conducted by f...

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Autores principales: Maria Ganczak, Oskar Pasek, Łukasz Duda-Duma, Julia Komorzycka, Karol Nowak, Marcin Korzeń
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: MDPI AG 2021
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Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/4ecbb73b79dd48a6b74779eccce40794
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Sumario:To support high school students to develop knowledge they need to adhere to control measures during the pandemic, a peer-based educational intervention on SARS-CoV-2 was developed and its impact was evaluated. Multistage random sampling was used. The 50 min peer-based intervention was conducted by final year medical students. Baseline and post-intervention knowledge and attitudes were assessed. Significance was tested by McNemar’s/Wilcoxon rank tests. Of 518 participants (mean age 17.8 years ± 0.43), 81.0% did not receive any school-based education on SARS-CoV-2. After intervention, the knowledge score improved from 65.2% to 81.6%, attitudes from 63.2% to 70.8% (both <i>p</i> < 0.0001). The effect size after the intervention compared to pre-intervention showed moderate improvement of knowledge, but not attitudes (d = 0.46 and d = 0.18, respectively). Pre- and post-intervention, females, students in non-science programs, living in cities < 250,000 inhabitants had lower knowledge, while fewer males, non-science program students, living in smaller cities presented positive attitudes. Before intervention, 67.0% students correctly named SARS-CoV-2 preventive methods and 73.6% were concerned COVID-19 is a serious disease; these improved after intervention (to 80.1% and 86.3%; <i>p</i> < 0.0001). The intervention was not very successful in increasing the intent to vaccinate for COVID-19 (pre-intervention 52.9%, post-intervention 56.4%; <i>p</i> < 0.007). Peer-based teaching for high school students can be effective in increasing SARS-CoV-2 knowledge and awareness. More efforts are needed to improve attitudes and enhance acceptance of vaccination against COVID-19.