Original Article

Year : 2022 | Volume : 10 | Issue : 1 | Page : 7 -12

Perceptions of Covid-19 in school children of 6-12 years in Thiruvallur district-A Cross-sectional Study

Karthiga Mohankumar 1 , Sarika Balaganesh 2

1 Postdoctoral Preceptor in Section of Periodontics, UCLA School of Dentistry, Los Angeles, California 2Department of Public Health Dentistry, Saveetha Dental College, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Poonamalle High Road, Chennai-600077

Address for correspondence :

Dr. Sarika Balaganesh,

Department of Public Health Dentistry, Saveetha Dental College, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Saveetha University, Chennai-600077 E-mail address- drsarika1995@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Background:

It is important to know the current level of knowledge, perception, and practices about COVID-19 of children for their safety when left on their own in the community. Knowing this would help the policymakers, parents, and teachers to decide the appropriate ways and content that needs to be explained to them in order to ensure the appropriate steps are taken by children to protect themselves when not supervised.

Objective:

To find the level of knowledge (spread, symptom), perception about the disease and its outcome, and practice of safety precautions about COVID-19 by school-going children of age 6 years to 16 years using a questionnaire in a Quiz format as per the score of the quiz.

Method:

A survey in the form of Quiz was devised and circulated on school groups and social media. Willing parents were asked to get it filled by their children. A total of 786 responses were obtained in months‟ time (15 May-15 June 2020). Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results:

More than 90 % of the children believed that fever, cough, and sore throat were the signs of COVID-19. Children were not aware that loss of smell was a sign of COVID 19. 84% of the children answered that recovery is possible after COVID -19 viral infection and 13% of the children were not sure.

Conclusion:

Students were aware of the pandemic which the world is under and the signs of the covid virus is also well known by the students. Television and social media played a vital role in transferring information KEYWORDS- Covid-19, lockdown, house surgeons, dental curriculum, rotational postings

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Nil

CONFLICT OF INTERESTS: All the authors declare that there was no conflict of interest in the present study

How to cite this article: Karthiga Mohankumar, & Sarika Balaganesh. (2022). Perceptions of Covid-19 in school children of 6-12 years in Thiruvallur district-A Cross sectional Study. International Journal of Community Dentistry, 10(1), 7–12. https://doi.org/10.56501/intjcommunitydent.v10i1.31

Received: 17-05-22; Accepted: 10-06-22; Web Published: 11-06-2022