How to inform college students about meningitis B vaccine? Comparative effectiveness of an online theory-based text and video intervention

Abstract

Objective The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of text and video formats of an online theory-based Meningitis B (MenB) health message intervention on college students. Participants: College freshmen and transfer students admitted at a Southern U.S. University. Methods: In a 2-arm randomized study, knowledge, perceptions, and intention to receive the vaccine were compared pre- and post-intervention. Results: Post intervention, participants in both the written and video interventions had significantly higher scores of knowledge, perceptions, and intentions. Upon comparing the change in scores pre- to post-intervention between both text and video groups, no significant differences were found between both groups. Conclusions: This study, a first in using a theory-based MenB online education intervention and questionnaire to compare text and video formats, suggests that both text and video formats are equally effective in raising young adults’ awareness about the MenB vaccine.

Keywords:

• Health Belief Model
• Health message intervention
• Meningitis B
• Text and Video
• Vaccine

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States of America and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of Auburn University.

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Heba A. T. Aref

Heba A.T. Aref: conceptualization, methodology, validation, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, writing original draft, writing - review & editing, visualization

Salisa Westrick

Salisa Westrick: conceptualization, methodology, validation, supervision, investigation, resources, writing - review & editing, project administration

Chiahung Chou

Chiahung Chou: formal analysis, writing, review & editing, supervision

Debra Worthington

Debra Worthington: methodology, writing, review & editing, supervision

Kimberly Garza

Kimberly Garza: conceptualization, validation, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, writing, review & editing, supervision, visualization, project administration