Analysis of COVID-19 Risk Perception and Its Correlates among University Students in Ghana

Abstract

Monitoring students’ risk perception forms part of emergency management during public health emergencies. Thus, public risk perception generally triggers attitudes, emotional responses, and prevention behaviors, which affect the evolution of emergencies and disease control strategies. However, research has paid less attention to the COVID-19 risk perception of students in Ghana. This study assessed the prevalence of COVID-19 risk perception and further identified its correlates among university students. In this study, 882 students from two public universities in Ghana were conveniently recruited. The data were analysed using frequency counts, percentages, and ordered logistic regression. The study revealed the prevalence of a high degree of COVID-19 risk perception among almost half (47.4%) of the sampled students. Results from ordered logistic regression analysis showed that age, sex, religion, use of professional and social media platforms, level (years) of study, and COVID-19 knowledge were significant correlates of COVID-19 risk perception. The dissemination of appropriate COVID-19 information and behavior-change communication to such relatively high-risk behavior sub-groups could help counter the debilitative effects of non-altruistic attitudes because of COVID-19 risk perception.

Assessing Internet Surfing Behaviours and Digital Health Literacy among University Students in Ghana during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The DHL levels of COVID-19 among university students were also measured and compared for differences between students studying health-related and non-health-related programmes. The study findings indicate that a significant majority (60%) of the university students used a variety of digital platforms (73 to 94%) to search for COVID-19 information, such as search engines, social media, news portals, health portals, Wikipedia, websites of public institutions, YouTube, blogs on health, and websites of doctors or health insurance companies, which was also reported among medical students in Iran [48]. Similarly, studies in the USA [9], Portugal [10], Slovenia [11], China/Malaysia/Philippines [12], Saudi Arabia [13], and Vietnam [14] established that university students often used the internet, search engines (e.g., Google, Bing, Yahoo), Wikipedia, social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter), news portals (e.g., newspapers, TV stations), and websites of public bodies/official institutions to obtain information about COVID-19 during the pandemic.…”

Modeling unit non-response and validity of online teaching evaluation in higher education using generalizability theory approach

“…Remarkably, some studies have shown that students are motivated by the use of technology-driven platforms (such as Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, and Twitter) that offer direct gratification irrespective of the challenges associated with their usage ( Owusu-Ansah et al, 2021 ; Quansah et al, 2022 ). This observation suggests that students are likely to find means of overcoming the challenges associated with technology use when they are aware of any associated direct and/or indirect benefits.…”

Moderation modelling of COVID-19 digital health literacy and sense of coherence across subjective social class and age among university students in Ghana

“…The use of the convenience sampling strategy became necessary to use since the tensions around COVID-19 was still present and schools had just resumed after over 10 months of lockdown. The challenge was that several students were anxious and uncertain in terms participating in the study [ 5 ]. Hence, the researchers obtained 1,160 responses, although the target was to administer the questionnaire to 2,100 students which represents 5% of the population.…”