TY  - JOUR
AU  - Peprah, Emmanuel
AU  - Amesimeku, Etornam
AU  - Angulo, Brian
AU  - Chhetri, Himani
AU  - Fordjuoh, Judy
AU  - Ruan, Christina
AU  - Wang, Cong
AU  - Patena, John
AU  - Vieira, Dorice
AU  - Ryan, Nessa
AU  - Iloegbu, Chukwuemeka
AU  - Gyamfi, Joyce
AU  - Odumegwu, Jonathan
PY  - 2024
DA  - 2024/6/17
TI  - How College Students Used Information From Institutions of Higher Education in the United States During COVID-19: Web-Based Cross-Sectional Survey Study
JO  - JMIR Form Res
SP  - e51292
VL  - 8
KW  - COVID-19
KW  - pandemic
KW  - public health
KW  - preventative
KW  - prevention
KW  - social distancing
KW  - masks
KW  - personal protective equipment
KW  - cross-sectional
KW  - surveys
KW  - higher learning
KW  - higher education
KW  - university students
KW  - information source
KW  - web-based information
KW  - health information
KW  - dissemination
KW  - awareness
KW  - information spread
KW  - young adults
KW  - social media
KW  - university
KW  - postsecondary
KW  - students
KW  - young adult
KW  - college
KW  - concern
KW  - worry
KW  - anxiety
KW  - perceptions
AB  - Background: The start of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the implementation of nonpharmaceutical interventions by US institutions of higher education at an unprecedented level. During the backdrop of an emerging pandemic, younger adults (eg, 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 its association with prevention behavior change. Objective: We sought to examine the level of concern, defined as the extent to which the participant would take corrective action to mitigate contracting or spreading the virus (to family or friends) by using personal protective equipment such as a face mask, practicing social distancing, and following other public health recommendations, among college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional, web-based survey was conducted in 2021 among 185 college students aged 18-41 years, with most living in New York City and the United States (n=134, 72.4%). Out of 185 college students, 94 provided their zip codes, with 51 of those college students indicating they lived in New York City areas. The participants completed the survey via a QR code. Study participants who did not complete the full survey or were not college students in any US college or university were excluded. Analyses were conducted using R (version 4.2.2; R Foundation for Statistical Computing). Results: Of 185 respondents participated in the study, 25 (13.5.%) used emails from their schools, 51 (27.6%) used mainstream media, and 109 (58.9%) used social media and other sources to obtain information about COVID-19. Of the 109 participants who learned about the pandemic from social media, 91 (83.5%) were concerned; however, only 63% (32/51) and 60% (15/25) of the participants who sourced information from mainstream media and their schools’ email, respectively, were concerned. Further, the participants who received information from social media and other sources were about 3 times more likely to be concerned about COVID-19 than participants who received information from the university via email (P=.036; OR=3.07, 95% CI: 1.06-8.83).. Conclusions: College students who received information from social media and other sources were more likely to be concerned about COVID-19 than students who received information from their school via emails. 
SN  - 2561-326X
UR  - https://formative.jmir.org/2024/1/e51292
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/51292
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38885019
DO  - 10.2196/51292
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/51292
ER  -