Knowledge and Perception and its Relationship with Preventive Behaviors of COVID-19

Introduction: This pandemic is an unprecedented challenge for all health care systems worldwide and the first medical crisis in recent history to affect different populations, countries, and continents, which requires everyone to be alert and ready to face it. One of which is a nursing student, and health student, is one of the prospective medical workers who will later serve as the vanguard in handling COVID-19. This study aimed to determine the relationship between knowledge and Perception of COVID-19 prevention behaviour.Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited 112 nursing students who agreed to participate in the research through an online survey by filling out a questionnaire on COVID-19 knowledge and perceptions related to COVID-19 and COVID-19 prevention behaviour in July 2020. Data analysis used multiple linear regression tests by software SPSS version 20. Results: The results showed that the average age of the respondents was 20.8 years, 80.4 % female gender, and 31.3 % of the participants were batch 2016. The Student t-test showed a significant relationship between Perception and preventive behaviour of COVID-19 (p=0.006). Meanwhile, the F test results show that knowledge and Perception substantially correlate to COVID-19 preventive behaviour (p= 0.024).Conclusion: A person’s behaviour, especially the COVID-19 prevention behaviour of nursing students, can be related to their knowledge and Perception of COVID-19. However, theoretical knowledge is not directly proportional to practice. Individuals with a good level of knowledge will have the right perceptions regarding COVID-19, which will ultimately improve COVID-19 prevention behavior.