engleski

Knowledge and attitudes of nursing students towards COVID-19 vaccines: a cross-sectional study from Croatia

The acceptance of vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) by nursing students and their knowledge on the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a vital issue due to their role in educating and guiding patients towards the right clinical decision. The aim of our study was to appraise this issue in Croatian nursing students and use the obtained data to decrease the burden of misinformation and foster the uptake of COVID-19 vaccination – not only for their own protection, but also to improve the health of their community. In March 2021 we have conducted a cross-sectional survey on a sample of 345 currently enrolled students at the Department of Nursing of the University Centre Varaždin, University North in Croatia. We collected data on respondents’ demographics, personal medical history of COVID- 19, intentions regarding the receipt of the COVID-19 vaccine, source of information on SARS- CoV-2 and COVID-19, and included a Likert scale to assess their knowledge of the virus and the disease. The data was analysed by using chi- square and Kruskal- Wallis one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05 (two-tailed). The majority of nursing students (73.6%) did not receive a COVID-19 vaccine, but only 16.8% of them are planning to do so in the near future (albeit most respondents did not have the disease). Conversely, only 13.9% of nurses estimated their knowledge regarding COVID-19 and available vaccine options as insufficient, with the stated knowledge self-assessment for the majority of them being good (32.8%), very good (26.4%) or excellent (7.2%). Sources of information were informal (i.e., media and Internet) for 30.4% of nursing students (Figure 1), and this was also a source for resolving any knowledge deficiencies regarding the vaccine for 25.5% of respondents. Statistically significant differences in Likert scale items were found in regards to respondents’ age and year of study. In summary, our results suggest that nursing students still show a substantial amount of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and certain knowledge deficits, highlighting the pivotal role of faculty in providing education on the importance of the COVID-19 vaccine. There is a need to ensure that current nursing students fully understand COVID- 19, the need for vaccination, as well as the importance of adequate sources of information.

knowledge ; attitudes ; nursing students ; COVID-19 vaccines

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