Monkeypox awareness, knowledge, and attitude among undergraduate preclinical and clinical students at a Malaysian dental school: An emerging outbreak during the COVID-19 era

Objective: To evaluate the awareness, knowledge, and attitude on monkeypox viral infection among preclinical and clinical dental students in Malaysia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 229 preclinical and clinical dental students via an online self-reported questionnaire. The questionnaire included 3 items on awareness, 15 items on knowledge, 9 items on attitude and 2 open-ended questions. Data were presented as frequencies and percentages. Chi-square test was used to compare knowledge and awareness scores between preclinical and clinical dental students and content analysis was performed for open-ended responses. Results: Preclinical and clinical dental students were aware of the existence of monkeypox (89.5% and 94.4%, respectively), that the disease emerged in non-endemic countries (81.0% and 87.1%, respectively) and that it was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization (73.3% and 79.0%, respectively). Clinical dental students' overall knowledge level was significantly higher than preclinical dental students (P=0.014). Both preclinical (95.2%) and clinical (96.8%) dental students demonstrated positive attitudes toward monkeypox with no significant difference (P=0.736) noted between them. Three themes emerged from the open-ended questions: (1) reimplementation of nationwide lockdown, (2) impact on the economy and health, and (3) disruption to the educational system. Students also anticipated their face-to-face learning to be reduced should there be a new outbreak. Conclusions: Both preclinical and clinical dental students showed comparable awareness and attitudes, while the latter demonstrated greater satisfactory knowledge toward the re-emergence of monkeypox during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, efforts to improve dental students' understanding of this alarming outbreak are required, to safeguard their health and minimise transmission.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the awareness, knowledge, and attitude towards monkeypox viral infection among preclinical and clinical dental students in Malaysia. The results showed that both groups of students had similar awareness and attitudes towards monkeypox, but clinical dental students had higher knowledge levels. However, efforts are still needed to improve dental students' understanding of this outbreak to protect their health and minimize transmission.