University students’ perceptions of airborne infection control: exploratory study using Q methodology
Abstract Background International cooperation for infection control is important to prevent global pandemics. University students were difficult groups to manage of infection control measures. They often had overconfidence to their health, ineffective personal hygiene, and active social activities....
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doaj-df4394879aa941eca5e93e751a632aa72021-01-10T12:06:24ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582021-01-0121111210.1186/s12889-020-09909-6University students’ perceptions of airborne infection control: exploratory study using Q methodologySeonhye Lee0Hyun Jin Kim1Chang Heon Cheong2Department of Nursing, Gyeongnam National University of Science and TechnologyDepartment of Nursing, Honam UniversityDepartment of Architectural Engineering, Gyeongnam National University of Science and TechnologyAbstract Background International cooperation for infection control is important to prevent global pandemics. University students were difficult groups to manage of infection control measures. They often had overconfidence to their health, ineffective personal hygiene, and active social activities. Their misperceptions and inappropriate preventive behaviors increase the infection risks to university and community. Understanding university students’ perceptions of airborne infection management will contribute to the establishment of relevant policies and health education programs. Method This study explored subjective perceptions of airborne infection among university students in South Korea using Q-methodology. Forty university students representing different majors ranked a set of 33 statements reflecting their perceptions of airborne infection. They sorted the statements into a distribution on seven scales ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” Collected data were analyzed by the PC-QUANL program. The subjective perception types were extracted by using the principal component analysis. Results Four type are derived regardingperception of airborne infection: Type I (Government responsibility), Type II (Personal responsibility in self-management), Type III (Strict external management) and Type IV (Comprehensive countermeasures management). Thesefour types accounted for 45.6% of the total variance, and the individual contributions of Types I, II, III, and IV were 27.7, 7.6, 6.2, and 4.1%, respectively. Conclusion The major contribution of this study is to clarify university students’ perceptions of airborne infection. These findings can be used in formulating effective strategies for health education, media reporting, and public health policy to improve airborne infection management.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09909-6Airborne infectionPandemicsUniversity studentPerceptionQ methodology |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Seonhye Lee Hyun Jin Kim Chang Heon Cheong |
spellingShingle |
Seonhye Lee Hyun Jin Kim Chang Heon Cheong University students’ perceptions of airborne infection control: exploratory study using Q methodology BMC Public Health Airborne infection Pandemics University student Perception Q methodology |
author_facet |
Seonhye Lee Hyun Jin Kim Chang Heon Cheong |
author_sort |
Seonhye Lee |
title |
University students’ perceptions of airborne infection control: exploratory study using Q methodology |
title_short |
University students’ perceptions of airborne infection control: exploratory study using Q methodology |
title_full |
University students’ perceptions of airborne infection control: exploratory study using Q methodology |
title_fullStr |
University students’ perceptions of airborne infection control: exploratory study using Q methodology |
title_full_unstemmed |
University students’ perceptions of airborne infection control: exploratory study using Q methodology |
title_sort |
university students’ perceptions of airborne infection control: exploratory study using q methodology |
publisher |
BMC |
series |
BMC Public Health |
issn |
1471-2458 |
publishDate |
2021-01-01 |
description |
Abstract Background International cooperation for infection control is important to prevent global pandemics. University students were difficult groups to manage of infection control measures. They often had overconfidence to their health, ineffective personal hygiene, and active social activities. Their misperceptions and inappropriate preventive behaviors increase the infection risks to university and community. Understanding university students’ perceptions of airborne infection management will contribute to the establishment of relevant policies and health education programs. Method This study explored subjective perceptions of airborne infection among university students in South Korea using Q-methodology. Forty university students representing different majors ranked a set of 33 statements reflecting their perceptions of airborne infection. They sorted the statements into a distribution on seven scales ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.” Collected data were analyzed by the PC-QUANL program. The subjective perception types were extracted by using the principal component analysis. Results Four type are derived regardingperception of airborne infection: Type I (Government responsibility), Type II (Personal responsibility in self-management), Type III (Strict external management) and Type IV (Comprehensive countermeasures management). Thesefour types accounted for 45.6% of the total variance, and the individual contributions of Types I, II, III, and IV were 27.7, 7.6, 6.2, and 4.1%, respectively. Conclusion The major contribution of this study is to clarify university students’ perceptions of airborne infection. These findings can be used in formulating effective strategies for health education, media reporting, and public health policy to improve airborne infection management. |
topic |
Airborne infection Pandemics University student Perception Q methodology |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09909-6 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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