Impacts of H1N1 messages on college students' knowledge, attitudes and information-seeking behavior

BACKGROUND: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Institute of Medicine consider improving the dissemination of timely emergency health information a top research priority. College administrators and health providers, however, often rely on a shot-gun approach when communicating critical public health information on college campuses.

OBJECTIVES: 1) to examine the communication channels (both mediated and unmediated) through which college students receive H1N1 messages and 2) to assess the students' knowledge, behavior and perceptions related to these messages. Study findings are evaluated for the purpose of providing college health administrators with best practices for raising awareness of health risks and disease prevention.

METHODS: Six focus groups held on the campus of a large university in the Southeast allowed researchers to hear from a diverse group of undergraduate students (n=40) about their knowledge, sources and information, attitudes and behaviors relating to H1N1 on campus. Focus group transcripts were sorted according to major themes by the researchers.

RESULTS: Because college students are overloaded with exposures to H1N1 information, they often seek help from opinion leaders, in particular, professors and parents, in assessing the information and determining individual risk. Students felt H1N1 messages were not reflective of reality, were pervasive and were superficial.

CONCLUSIONS: Targeted messages from the university delivered through opinion leaders or judicious use of email or text messaging would be effective and efficient ways to get H1N1 messages to college students. Findings can be used to develop strategies to best communicate critical and timely health information to college populations.