PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Doxtater, Jed
AU  - Cruz, Charlie P.
TI  - Knowledge, Risk Perceptions, and Preventive Behaviors in COVID-19 Pandemic Among Medical Laboratory Students in Wyoming
AID  - 10.29074/ascls.2021003161
DP  - 2021 Aug 01
TA  - American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science
4099  - http://hwmaint.clsjournal.ascls.org/content/early/2023/04/10/ascls.2021003161.short
4100  - http://hwmaint.clsjournal.ascls.org/content/early/2023/04/10/ascls.2021003161.full
AB  - Following the first reported cases in China, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new COVID-19 a pandemic by March 11, 2020. Medical laboratory professionals and students are among the health workers that collect, process, and examine COVID-19 samples for accurate and efficient diagnosis. This present cross-sectional study intends to evaluate the self-reported knowledge, risk perceptions, and preventive behaviors in the COVID-19 pandemic among 44 medical laboratory students in Wyoming. The majority of the respondents were female, had an academic standing of junior or higher, were not employed in a clinical laboratory, and received COVID-19 education from both the WHO and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The respondents reported a high level of knowledge, moderate-risk perceptions, and low-preventive–behavioral performance in the COVID-19 pandemic. Pearson’s product-moment correlation found a significant difference between the respondents’ preventive behaviors and their receipt of COVID-19 education, and the risk perceptions were positively correlated to the respondents’ preventive-behavioral–performance. Increased guidance through curricular intervention, mentorship, and continuing professional education is recommended to enhance the medical laboratory students’ risk perceptions and preventive behaviors.