Commitment to COVID-19 Protective Measures in Schools and among School Children, Egypt

Abstract

Background: School closure was taken as one of the international measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. After the recession of the first wave of COVID-19, reopening of schools was decided to gain the educational and psychological support proposed by schools, on condition that they apply strict hygienic measures in schools and by students to prevent the spread of infection. Objective: This study aimed to estimate the degree to which school students committed to hygienic measures related to COVID-19 prevention as well as estimate schools' commitment to public health measures related to COVID-19 as reported by students. Patients and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in December 2020 on Egyptian school students. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select 20 basic education schools from the ten districts in Menoufia governorate, Egypt. A sample of 786 students were included and subjected to a self-administered questionnaire containing socio-demographic characteristics, students' commitment to hygienic measures related to COVID-19, and the commitment of the schools to preventive measures of COVID-19. Results: The studied students were 52.3% males with an average age ranging from 6 to 15 years. About 55.1% were from rural residences and 92% of them were with adequately educated mothers. Hand washing practice was mostly done after returning home from outside (95.2%). More than 95% of them wore masks at school entry but only 39.2% continued wearing them throughout the day. Students' commitment was significantly related to older age students, females, urban residence, and mother's education. Conclusion: Commitment of students to hygienic measures against COVID-19 improved mainly with increasing age, female sex, urban areas, and with higher education of mothers. Also, it was significantly correlated with the school's commitment score, so continuing health education and training of parents and students, especially those who are young, will improve students' commitment.