TY - JOUR
AU1 - Seale, Holly
AU2 - Mak, Jackie
AU3 - Razee, Husna
AU4 - MacIntyre, C
AB - Background: Prior to the availability of the specific pandemic vaccine, strategies to mitigate the impact of the disease typically involved antiviral treatment and “non-pharmaceutical” community interventions. However, compliance with these strategies is linked to risk perceptions, perceived severity and perceived effectiveness of the strategies. In 2010, we undertook a study to examine the knowledge, attitudes, risk perceptions, practices and barriers towards influenza and infection control strategies amongst domestic and international university students. Methods: A study using qualitative methods that incorporated 20 semi-structured interviews was undertaken with domestic and international undergraduate and postgraduate university students based at one university in Sydney, Australia. Participants were invited to discuss their perceptions of influenza (seasonal vs. pandemic) in terms of perceived severity and impact, and attitudes towards infection control measures including hand-washing and the use of social distancing, isolation or cough etiquette. Results: While participants were generally knowledgeable about influenza transmission, they were unable to accurately define what ‘pandemic influenza’ meant. While avian flu or SARS were mistaken as examples of past pandemics, almost all participants were able to associate the recent “swine flu” situation as an example of a pandemic event. Not surprisingly, it was uncommon for participants to identify university students 
TI - Examining the knowledge, attitudes and practices of domestic and international university students towards seasonal and pandemic influenza
JF - BMC Public Health
DO - 10.1186/1471-2458-12-307
DA - 2012-04-26
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/springer-journals/examining-the-knowledge-attitudes-and-practices-of-domestic-and-Y8zrXUmOgO
SP - 1
EP - 6
VL - 12
IS - 1
DP - DeepDyve
ER -