Assessing how college students used information from institutions of higher education (IHEs) in the United States during COVID-19: Public health implications for mitigation of disease risk (Preprint)

Abstract

The start of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in implementation nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) by institutions of higher education (IHEs) in the United States at an unprecedented level. During the backdrop of an emerging pandemic, younger adults (e.g., college students) had an overall lower risk for severe outcomes for SARS-CoV-2, making this population a potential source of transmission for age groups with high susceptibility and negative health outcomes. We examine how college students’ level of concern for COVID-19 was influenced by different sources of information, their living status, income level, and other demographic identifiers and it association with prevention behavior change.

We sought to examine the level of concern as defined as the utilization of protective measures and/or personal protective equipment and/or social distancing and/or following other public health recommendations from public health sources among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We conducted a cross-sectional, online survey conducted in 2021 of 185 college students aged 18-41 years old with many living in New York City and the United States. The participants completed the survey via quick response (QR) code. Study participants who did not complete the full survey or were not college students in any U.S. college or university were excluded. Analyses were conducted using R version 4.2.2.

College students that participated in our survey used various sources to obtain information about COVID-19 that, included social media and other sources (58.92%), followed by mainstream media (27.57%) and email from their university/college (13.51%). Students who learned about the pandemic from social media (65.94%) were concerned; however, only 23.19% and 10.87% of the participants that sourced information from mainstream media and their schools’ email, respectively, were concerned.

College students who received information from social media and other sources were three times more likely to be concerned about COVID-19 than students who received information from the university via email.