Novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic-related knowledge, behaviors and psychology status among college students and their family members and friends: an internet-based cross-sectional survey

  Objective  To examine novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) pneumonia (NCP) epidemic-related knowledge, coping behavior and psychological status among college students and their family members and friends for providing evidences to prevention and control of the epidemic.

  Methods  Using convenient sampling, we carried out an online survey among 23 100 students in 4 colleges/universities in 4 cities across Guangdong province and the students′ friends and family members with self-designed questionnaires during outbreak period of NCP epidemic (January 31 to February 4, 2020).

  Results  Valid information were collected from 96.5% (22 302) of the participants. For all the eligible respondents, 66.8% were females; 18 741 (84.0%) and 3 561 (16.0%) were students aged 20.1 ± 2.0 years and the students′ family member and friends (non-students) aged 34.7 ± 12.3 years. Of the student and non-student respondents, 80.7% and 98.3% reported being aware of main transmission routes of the novel coronavirus; 1.7% and 30.9% reported believing in some unverified NCP epidemic related information from internet media; 98.6 and 99.2% considered reducing gatherings and avoiding crowded places as an important way to control the epidemic; 57.7% and 63.4% reported wearing a mask in public places all the time during previous one week. Of the respondents with mask wearing behaviors, 24.2% reported using a disposable mask repeatedly. For all the respondents, 22.9% were assessed as with mild depressive symptoms and 9.5% (9.6% for the students and 8.1% for the non-students) with moderate and severe depressive symptoms during past two weeks. History of contact with someone from Hubei province (the region with serious NCP epidemic) was reported by 2.2% of the respondents.

  Conclusion  The majority of the college students in Guangdong province and their family members and friends are aware of basic NCP epidemic-related knowledge and have adopted preventive practices but related health education and surveillance still need to be promoted among the populations.