Department of Public Health Science, Faculty of Landscape and Society, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway.
Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
Front Public Health. 2021 Aug 20;9:700542. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.700542. eCollection 2021.
This study aims to investigate Norwegian students' perceptions toward a higher education institution (HEI)'s COVID-19 response strategy, differentiating between three behavioral techniques: informing (i. e., email updates about COVID-19), nudging (i.e., visual cues as reminders), and creating novel opportunities (i.e., provision of antibacterial dispensers). In addition, the study assesses to what extent these perceptions are influenced by COVID-19 related psychological factors: risk perception; attitudes toward infection prevention and control (IPC) behaviors; perceived behavior control; institutional trust. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among a student population. The survey was developed to evaluate the HEI's response strategy, and distinct perceptions of COVID-19 and related practices. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was applied to estimate the effect of the psychological factors on the attitude toward different behavioral techniques. Creating novel opportunities was perceived most positively from the students, secondly, informing the students through email updates about COVID-19, finally, reminders through visual cues. Institutional trust presented the largest positive effect on informing the students through email updates, while no effect was measured for reminders. Attitudes toward IPC behaviors showed the strongest effect on students' perceptions of new opportunities and reminders, whereas providing email updates about COVID-19 is less affected by pre-existing perceptions. A host of factors such as institutional trust, and perceptions concerning IPC measures and risk severity, influence students' perceptions of different behavior change techniques. This type of knowledge can contribute to understanding how perceptions can impact acceptance and adoption of specific preventive measures within a pandemic response. An assessment as such may result in more ethical and relevant future efforts.
本研究旨在调查挪威学生对高等教育机构（HEI）新冠疫情应对策略的看法，区分三种行为技术：告知（即关于新冠疫情的电子邮件更新）、推动（即视觉提示作为提醒）和创造新机会（即提供抗菌分配器）。此外，本研究评估这些看法在多大程度上受到与新冠疫情相关的心理因素的影响：风险感知、对感染预防和控制（IPC）行为的态度、感知行为控制、机构信任。 一项横断面在线调查在学生群体中进行。该调查旨在评估 HEI 的应对策略以及对新冠疫情和相关实践的不同看法。结构方程模型（SEM）用于估计心理因素对不同行为技术态度的影响。 学生们最积极地看待创造新机会，其次是通过电子邮件更新向学生通报新冠疫情，最后是通过视觉提示提醒学生。机构信任对通过电子邮件向学生通报新冠疫情的影响最大，而对视觉提示的影响则无法衡量。IPC 行为态度对学生对新机会和提醒的看法产生了最强的影响，而提供有关新冠疫情的电子邮件更新则较少受到先前看法的影响。 许多因素，如机构信任、对 IPC 措施和风险严重程度的看法，影响学生对不同行为改变技术的看法。这种类型的知识有助于理解看法如何影响对大流行应对中特定预防措施的接受和采用。这样的评估可能会导致未来更加道德和相关的努力。
