Addressing Awareness, Attitudes and Behavior of University Students Towards Influenza Vaccination
type: CreativeWork
description: Objective: The objective was to determine the awareness, attitudes, and behavior of college students regarding influenza vaccination. Acute respiratory illness, mainly influenza and pneumonia, is the eighth leading cause of death in the United States. Colleges and universities are places where influenza may spread easily due to large numbers of people living, working and learning in a confined area. On the other hand, there may be easy access to immunization services and a possible mandate for student immunization, especially within health professions programs. Associations are explored between influenza immunization behavior of students and university environment characteristics, as well as individual awareness and attitudes. |Methods: This online survey was conducted at a private, comprehensive university, and included full and part-time campus and online students in undergraduate, professional and graduate programs. Academic disciplines were in arts and science, health sciences, business, and law. A structured 24 item Qualtrics survey was created after performing a thorough literature review through PubMed, CINAHL and Cochrane. Surveys on influenza vaccination published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and various health organizations of the United Kingdom and Australia were referenced. Input from a faculty expert on immunizations and in student influenza vaccination, as well as from student health nurses was also used to inform survey design. The survey was pilot tested in nine of 8,992 students for item and response clarity and to determine the survey administration time. For some question sections, the survey had branching to follow-up questions based on previous responses. After approval by the University’s Institutional Review Board, the survey was distributed electronically using student email addresses. In an attempt to increase the response rate, students were offered the opportunity to participate in a lot…
abstract: Objective: The objective was to determine the awareness, attitudes, and behavior of college students regarding influenza vaccination. Acute respiratory illness, mainly influenza and pneumonia, is the eighth leading cause of death in the United States. Colleges and universities are places where influenza may spread easily due to large numbers of people living, working and learning in a confined area. On the other hand, there may be easy access to immunization services and a possible mandate for student immunization, especially within health professions programs. Associations are explored between influenza immunization behavior of students and university environment characteristics, as well as individual awareness and attitudes. |Methods: This online survey was conducted at a private, comprehensive university, and included full and part-time campus and online students in undergraduate, professional and graduate programs. Academic disciplines were in arts and science, health sciences, business, and law. A structured 24 item Qualtrics survey was created after performing a thorough literature review through PubMed, CINAHL and Cochrane. Surveys on influenza vaccination published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization, and various health organizations of the United Kingdom and Australia were referenced. Input from a faculty expert on immunizations and in student influenza vaccination, as well as from student health nurses was also used to inform survey design. The survey was pilot tested in nine of 8,992 students for item and response clarity and to determine the survey administration time. For some question sections, the survey had branching to follow-up questions based on previous responses. After approval by the University’s Institutional Review Board, the survey was distributed electronically using student email addresses. In an attempt to increase the response rate, students were offered the opportunity to participate in a lot…
author: Waghmare, Prajakta
language: en_US
date published: 2018-05-11
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:51:19Z
provider: Creighton University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Creighton University

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/10504/117939