Assessment of Knowledge and Fear of COVID-19 Among Dental Patients in a Dental Institution, Mathura. A Cross Sectional Study

Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2021 in the subject Medicine - Dentistry, grade: A, , course: MDS( PUBLIC HEALTH DENTISTRY), language: English, abstract: The aim of the study is to assess the level of knowledge and fear amongst dental patients attending dental OPD in a dental institution. A cross- sectional, questionnaire study was conducted among dental patients attending dental OPD of K.D. Dental College & Hospital, Mathura. The study was conducted to assess the level of knowledge and fear amongst dental patient s using Knowledge assessment questionnaire and Fear of COVID-19 Scale, which was translated into Hindi. The observed data were coded, tabulated, and analyzed using IBM SPSS Version 20. Descriptive statistics were represented as frequency and percentages for categorical variables (gender, age group and socio-economic status) and Mean Standard Deviation for continuous variables (knowledge score, fear during lockdown score and fear after lockdown score). Comparison of gender with fear scores was done using independent test and comparison of age group and SES with fear scores was done using using one-way ANOVA test. Pearson s test was used to correlate between knowledge and fear scores. A p value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. One of the emergent global challenges in managing infectious diseases is dealing with the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). With the extremely high infection rate and relatively high mortality, individuals naturally began worrying about the COVID-19. Apart from reducing the transmission rate, considering an individual s knowledge and fear is a vital aspect for their psychological wellbeing and may also largely influence the manner in which an individual may adhere to preventive measures and thereby determine the clinical outcome of COVID-19.