At a state university in the Pacific Northwest, the authors surveyed 477 matriculating
college students about their immunization status, knowledge, self-perceived risk, and
health risk behaviors for hepatitis A and B vaccinations. Review of immunization
records revealed that 10% of these students were completely immunized for hepatitis
A and 58.8% were completely immunized for hepatitis B. Although their knowledge
about hepatitis A and B was very good, there were no significant differences in
immunization status or health risk behaviors based on their knowledge or their self-perceived
risk of hepatitis A and B. About 66% of students perceived they had no risk
or low risk for hepatitis A and B and only 5% felt they had a high risk. In spite of the
low self-perceived risk, health risk behaviors for hepatitis A and B were common in
this population of college students. In the past twelve months, 56.2% of these
students reported being sexually active (vaginal, oral, anal sex), including 20.5% who
had two or more sexual partners. Students with multiple sexual partners reported
having unprotected sex at a high frequency: 61.3% vaginal, 81.1% oral-genital, and
13.2% anal. The non-sexual health risk behaviors were also common in this
population: 53.2% had body piercing/tattoos, and 26.5% traveled internationally to
regions with intermediate to high rates of hepatitis A (Africa, SE Asia, Central/South
America). These students who traveled internationally were more likely to be
immunized for hepatitis A, although 70% remained unimmunized. In addition,
students with multiple sexual partners or with a body piercing/tattoo were more likely
to be immunized for hepatitis B. However, about one-third of these students with
multiple sexual partners or body piercing/tattoo have not completed the hepatitis B
series. The theory of planned behavior was applied to determine factors that are
associated with college students' decision to be vaccinated for hepatitis A and B. For
hepatitis A and B vaccinations, important attitude constructs identified were 'vaccine
effectiveness, vaccine adverse effects, anticipation anxiety, inconvenience, and
vaccine expense.' The subjective norm constructs with the greatest influence for
college students were: 'parents, family doctor, and student health services staff'. The
significant perceived behavioral constructs were 'parents reminder, student health
services (SHS) reminder, and SHS hepatitis vaccine clinic.' In conclusion, there is
still a sizable portion of unvaccinated college students who possess health risk
behaviors for hepatitis A and B, such as multiple sexual partners, unprotected sexual
behaviors, body piercing/tattoos, and international travel. With a greater
understanding of college students' attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived
behavioral control college health services could develop more effective strategies to
educate unvaccinated college students about these risks and motivate them to be
immunized. / Graduation date: 2003
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/31601 |
| Date | 13 May 2003 |
| Creators | Koski, James R. |
| Contributors | Donatelle, Rebecca J. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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