Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Nov 8:9:719668.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.719668. eCollection 2021.

Self-Reported Obsession Toward COVID-19 Preventive Measures Among Undergraduate Medical Students During the Early Phase of Pandemic in Jordan

Tariq N Al-Shatanawi  1 , Samir A Sakka  2 , Khalid A Kheirallah  3 , Abdel-Hameed Al-Mistarehi  3 , Shawkat Al-Tamimi  2 , Nasr Alrabadi  4 , Jomana Alsulaiman  5 , Ali Al Khader  6 , Farah Abdallah  7 , Loai Issa Tawalbeh  8 , Tareq Saleh  9 , Waleed Hijazi  3 , Ayham R Alnsour  10 , Nidal A Younes  11
Affiliations

Self-Reported Obsession Toward COVID-19 Preventive Measures Among Undergraduate Medical Students During the Early Phase of Pandemic in Jordan

Tariq N Al-Shatanawi et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its associated precautionary measures have substantial impacts not only on the medical, economic, and social context but also on psychological health. This study aimed to assess the obsession toward COVID-19 preventive measures among undergraduate medical students during the early phase of the pandemic in Jordan. Methods: Online questionnaires were distributed between March 16, 2020 and March 19, 2020. Socio-demographic characteristics were collected, and self-reported obsession toward COVID-19 preventive measures was assessed using a single question.COVID-19 knowledge, risk perception, and precautionary measures were evaluated using scales. Using the chi-square test, Student t-test, and one-way ANOVA, we assessed the differences in the obsession of students with socio-demographic characteristics and scores of the scales. Results: A total of 1,404 participants (60% were female participants) completed the survey with a participation rate of 15.6%. Obsession with preventive measures was reported by 6.8%. Obsession was significantly more common among women (9.2%) than men (3.3%) and students who attended COVID-19 lectures (9.5%) than those who did not attend such lectures (5.8%) (p < 0.001 and p = 0.015, respectively). Obsessed participants reported significantly higher levels of COVID-19 knowledge (p = 0.012) and precautionary measures (p < 0.001). COVID-19 risk perception had a mild effect size difference but with no statistical significance (p = 0.075). There were no significant differences in the academic levels of participants (p = 0.791) and universities (p = 0.807) between students who were obsessed and those who were not. Conclusions: Obsession is one of the significant but unspoken psychological effects of COVID-19 precautionary measures among undergraduate medical students. Medical schools should be equipped with means to handle pandemic psychological effects.

Keywords: COVID-19; Jordan; knowledge; medical students; obsession; preventive measures; risk perception.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart of the participants.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Self-reported obsession toward the COVID-19 preventive measures among undergraduate medical students.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Huang C, Wang Y, Li X, Ren L, Zhao J, Hu Y, et al. . Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Lancet. (2020) 395:497–506. 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30183-5 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang C, Horby PW, Hayden FG, Gao GF. A novel coronavirus outbreak of global health concern. Lancet. (2020) 395:470–3. 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30185-9 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Samrah SM, Al-Mistarehi AH, Aleshawi AJ, Khasawneh AG, Momany SM, Momany BS, et al. . Depression and coping among COVID-19-infected individuals after 10 days of mandatory in-hospital quarantine, Irbid, Jordan. Psychol Res Behav Manage. (2020) 13:823–30. 10.2147/PRBM.S267459 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kheirallah KA, Alsinglawi B, Alzoubi A, Saidan MN, Mubin O, Alorjani MS, et al. . The effect of strict state measures on the epidemiologic curve of COVID-19 infection in the context of a developing country: a simulation from Jordan. Int J Environ Res Public Health. (2020) 17:6530. 10.21203/rs.3.rs-39643/v1 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Samrah SM, Al-Mistarehi AW, Ibnian AM, Raffee LA, Momany SM, Al-Ali M, et al. . COVID-19 outbreak in Jordan: epidemiological features, clinical characteristics, and laboratory findings. Ann Med Surg. (2020) 57:103–8. 10.1016/j.amsu.2020.07.020 - DOI - PMC - PubMed