College Student Adoption of Pandemic Influenza Mitigation Efforts

Background: Pandemics are rapid-onset, long duration events that present unique challenges to public health disaster response efforts. As part of the response, the public is advised to adopt health behaviors to reduce the risk of contracting the illness. These behaviors, or personal mitigation efforts, range from hand and respiratory hygiene to case isolation to social distancing. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine college student response to the H1N1 pandemic using a modified Health Belief Model. The relationship of knowledge, perceptions, and cues to the adoption of personal mitigation efforts are examined. Significance: Consistent with other pandemics in the past century, younger members of the population, including college students, are at great risk of contracting the illness. College student living and working conditions may also increase risk. Methods: Online surveys were conducted at two universities in Texas during fall 2009. All students were sent an email inviting participation that included a hyperlink to the web-based survey. In total, 525 students participated in the study. Findings: The results suggest that while students perceived themselves to be at moderately low risk for contracting the H1N1 flu, they considered the general health threat posed by the pandemic to be moderately high. Further, the perception of the pandemic as a serious public health threat was the most important factor related to the adoption of personal mitigation efforts. Conclusions: Efforts need to be undertaken to inform students of their risk, as well as provide information and resources to support personal mitigation efforts.