Background/Purpose Hand-washing has been promoted by the CDC to reduce the transmission of H1N1 making it vital to investigate the current hygiene-related knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and barriers of university students. We examined the effect of perceived severity of personally contracting H1N1 on taking extra precautions to avoid getting H1N1/flu. We hypothesized a positive correlation between perceived severity of personally contracting H1N1/flu and taking extra precautions.
Method The Chi-square of independence and Chi-square test of trend were used to test for bivariate relationships. Odds ratios (95% CIs) were computed when tables were 2 x 2 in dimension and Pearson's correlations were computed when tables included an ordinal variable. Multiple logistic regression and ordinal logistic regression techniques were used to further test the bivariate relationships while controlling for confounding variables. The SPSS v.16 was used for all data analyses.
Analysis/Results An association between perceived severity of personally contracting H1N1/flu and taking extra precautions was found (X2=36.31, df=1, p<0.001). Female students (75.5%) were significantly more likely than males (55.7%) to think it would be serious if they got H1N1/flu (X2=24.58, df=1, p<0.001). Females (62.8%) were significantly more likely to take extra precautions to avoid H1N1/flu than males (37.2%), (X2=17.64, DF=1, P<0.001). Traditional students (93.0%) were significantly more likely to take extra precautions to avoid H1N1/flu than non-traditional students (7.0%), (X2=4.06, df=1, p<0.05).
Conclusions We recommend using the Health Belief Model to address the effect of perceived severity on behavior to improve the effectiveness and/or level of precaution taken by students during flu season.
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