Malik Sallam, Kholoud Al-Mahzoum, Latefa Ali Dardas, Ala’a B. Al-Tammemi, Laith Al-Majali, Hala Al-Naimat, Laila Jardaneh, Farah AlHadidi, Khaled Al-Salahat, Eyad Al-Ajlouni, Nadin Mohammad AlHadidi, Faris G. Bakri, Azmi Mahafzah, Harapan Harapan
Background and Objective: The recent multi-country outbreak of human monkeypox (HMPX) in non-endemic regions poses an emerging public health concern. University students in health schools/faculties represent a core knowledgeable group that can be helpful to study from a public health point of view. As future healthcare workers, assessment of their knowledge and attitude towards emerging zoonotic viral infections can be helpful to assess their taught material and courses with potential improvement if gaps in knowledge were identified. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the level of HMPX knowledge, conspiracy beliefs regarding emerging virus infections, as well as their associated determinants among university students studying Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Medical Laboratory Sciences, and Rehabilitation in Jordanian health schools/faculties. In addition, we sought to evaluate the correlation between HMPX knowledge and the extent of holding conspiracy beliefs regarding emerging viral infection. Materials and Methods: A convenient sample of university students was obtained through an electronic survey distributed in late May 2022 using the chain-referral approach. Assessment of HMPX knowledge and general attitude towards emerging virus infections was based on survey items adopted from previously published literature. Results: The study sample comprised 615 students with a mean age of 20 years and a majority of females (432, 70.2%) and medical students (n = 351, 57.1%). Out of eleven monkeypox knowledge items, three were identified correctly by >70% of the respondents. Only 26.2% of the respondents (n = 161) knew that vaccination to prevent monkeypox is available. Age was significantly associated with better HMPX knowledge for a majority of items. Older age, females, and affiliation to non-medical schools/faculties were associated with harboring higher levels of conspiracy beliefs regarding emerging virus infections. Our data also indicate that lower levels of HMPX knowledge were associated with higher levels of conspiracy beliefs. Conclusion: The current study pointed to generally unsatisfactory levels of knowledge regarding the emerging HMPX among university students in Jordanian health schools/faculties. Conspiracy beliefs regarding emerging virus infections were widely prevalent, and its potential detrimental impact on health behavior should be evaluated in future studies. © 2022 by the authors.
Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, The University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan; Department of Clinical Laboratories and Forensic Medicine, Jordan University Hospital, Amman, 11942, Jordan; Department of Translational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, Malmö, 22184, Sweden; School of Medicine, The University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan; School of Nursing, The University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan; Migration Health Division, International Organization for Migration (IOM), The UN Migration Agency, Amman, 11953, Jordan; School of Dentistry, The University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan; Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, The University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan; Infectious Diseases and Vaccine Center, The University of Jordan, Amman, 11942, Jordan; Medical Research Unit, School of Medicine, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia; Tropical Disease Centre, School of Medicine, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia; Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, 23111, Indonesia
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