Correlation of risk perception with the COVID-19 related knowledge and preventive measures: A study on Indian pharmacy students

Introduction: A novel threat to mankind occurred in December 2019 which was an outbreak of infection caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 or 2019-nCoV) The infection was first developed in Wuhan, China, and has affected more than 200 countries around the world till now Objective: The present study aims to assess the knowledge related to coronavirus disease (COVID-19), risk perception and preventive behaviours among the Pharmacy students in a part of India approximately 3 months after the onset of this outbreak in India Methods: This survey was conducted from 2nd to 5th of September 2020 with Indian Pharmacy students (1st to 4th year) The knowledge, self-reported preventive behaviours and risk perceptions of COVID-19 were assessed using an online questionnaire A total of 21 questions were there in the questionnaire in which 14 questions were about knowledge related to COVID-19, 4 items regarding preventive behaviours and 3 about risk perception Results: A total of 268 participants completed the questionnaire The participants were under the age group of 15-30 years A high level of disease-related knowledge was found in the participants (77 66%) On an average 96 1% of participants were practising preventive behaviours The aggregate score of items in risk perception section was found to be in the moderate range i e , 5 38 out of 8 A significant negative correlation was obtained between risk perception and preventive behaviours Conclusion: The trajectory and severity of this outbreak are very high, therefore, effective treatment against this global threat is required to be developed as early as possible In the present study, a high level of disease-related knowledge and preventive behaviours were observed among the participants with a moderate level of risk perception © IJCRR