The influence of a quick educational video intervention on COVID-19-related knowledge in Ecuador

PLoS One. 2023 Oct 5;18(10):e0291709. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0291709. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a pandemic that has spread worldwide. Since its discovery, health measures have been put in place to help stop it from spreading. Proper education about COVID-19 is important because it helps people to follow health control measures and learn more about the disease.

Objective: This study aimed to compare people´s knowledge of COVID-19 before and after a brief video-based educational intervention.

Methods: 87 participants in Ecuador were recruited from a dataset of COVID-positive patients in Ecuador between December 2021 and February 2022. This was a cross-sectional, pre- and post-intervention study. First, COVID-19 knowledge was evaluated and then an educational intervention was provided as a video. After the intervention, the same knowledge questions were used to test the participants, and marginal homogeneity-based chi-square tests were employed for comparison.

Results: After watching the educational video, participants knew more about the age group most likely to get the disease and their knowledge of how long it takes for Covid to spread. Their knowledge of other aspects of COVID-19 has also increased.

Conclusion: This study shows that educational intervention positively affects the knowledge of people who watch it. At the end of the study, after the intervention, the study participants knew more than they had before. This could be a useful tool for identifying possible pandemics.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19* / epidemiology
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Ecuador / epidemiology
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
  • Humans
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Surveys and Questionnaires

Grants and funding

This research was funded by Universidad Espíritu Santo, grant number 2021-MED-001. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.