Health communication needs for COVID-19 prevention and control among college students

Abstract

Objectives: During the early COVID-19 pandemic, college students had to switch to an online learning and online communication environment facing the chances of information overload, misinformation or conflicting information about COVID-19. This study aims to assess the communication needs that have arisen among college students to shed light on the development of a health communication campaign tailored toward college students. Methods: A series of 10 focus group discussions were conducted with 38 total participants. Each group has 2-6 undergraduate or graduate student participants. Nvivo was used to analyze the transcripts. Results: The students reported that they received conflicting information or misinformation. They requested messages with language that was easy to understand with infographics while being culturally appropriate. They advocated for regular and concise email updates from campus leadership. Most participants also preferred COVID-19 control and prevention information on social media. Conclusion: This study revealed the current status and the needs for health information about COVID-19 prevention and control among college students.

Keywords:

• Channel
• college students
• COVID-19
• message
• receiver
• sender

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 San Jose State University.

Funding

This work was funded by the Provost Office of San Jose State University.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the Provost Office of San Jose State University.