Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of University Students Towards Covid-19 and Covid-19 Vaccination: The Case of Ghana Institute of Journalism

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as a serious public health threat, prompting countries throughout the world to take extraordinary infection prevention and control (IPC) efforts to halt the virus's spread. People's knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours (KAP) concerning COVID-19 are crucial for understanding the disease's epidemiological dynamics, as well as the efficacy, compliance, and success of IPC measures implemented in a country. The goal of this study was to find out how many Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) students have high levels of KAP toward COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines/vaccination. A cross-sectional internet survey with a structured questionnaire was conducted utilising the Convenience/Haphazard sampling approach. Descriptive statistics: bar graphs, crosstabulation, clustered bar graphs and frequency tables were used to investigate the data. 58 percent of the 100 replies received were from men between the ages of 18 and 39 who were from level 200 to 400 and either Christians, Muslims, or Atheists. COVID-19 was well-understood by 99 percent of respondents, who learned about it primarily from the internet/social media (60%) and friends/family (39%). Most of the respondents (77%) were already vaccinated. However, not all the remaining 23 percent of unvaccinated were ready to take a jab if it was made available. It emerged from the findings that factors such as centre unawareness, adverse effects from getting inoculated and respondents perceived self-efficacy (18.5) were the barriers hindering the intension to vaccinate. The study also found that religion did not play a role in respondents’ attitude towards COVID-19 and the intention to vaccinate. Although the participants in this study had strong knowledge and attitudes, community-based health campaigns are needed to maintain positive attitudes and implement appropriate intervention strategies that are free of misunderstandings.