Expert-Led Module Improves Non-STEM Undergraduate Perception of and Willingness to Receive COVID-19 Vaccines

Abstract

As evidence mounted that existing prevention methods would be insufficient to end the COVID-19 pandemic, it became clear that vaccines would be critical to achieve and maintain reduced rates of infection. However, vaccine-hesitant sentiments have become widespread, particularly in populations with lower scientific literacy. The non-STEM major (called non-major) college students represent one such population who rely on one or more science classes to develop their scientific literacy and thus, become candidates of interest for the success of the COVID-19 vaccine campaign. As these students have fewer opportunities to learn how to identify reputable scientific sources or judge the validity of novel scientific findings, it is particularly important that these skills are included in the science courses offered to non-majors. Two concurrent non-major biology courses (N = 98) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Spring 2021 completed Likert questionnaires with open-ended questions prior to and after an expert-led Vaccine Awareness educational intervention addressing vaccine-related concerns. In the module, experts gave presentations about COVID-19 related to microbiology, epidemiological factors, and professional experiences relating to COVID-19. Ten students agreed to participate in post-semester one-on-one interviews. Student interviews revealed that students perceived guest lecturers as providing more information and assurance. Questionnaire data showed an increase in student willingness to accept a COVID-19 vaccine as well as increased student perception of the COVID-19 vaccines as both safe and effective (Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test, p < 0.05). However, the questionnaire data revealed 10 of 98 students remained vaccine-resistant, and these students expressed insufficient research and side effects as leading vaccination concerns. Overall, we show expert-led modules can be effective in increasing non-majors willingness to accept COVID-19 vaccines. Future research should explore the experiences of non-majors and guest lectures, particularly as they relate to vaccination and vaccine concerns.

Association of University Students’ COVID-19 Vaccination Intention with Behaviors toward Protection and Perceptions Regarding the Pandemic

“…In this study, it was found that students with more increased age had significantly lower intention to get vaccinated. The most frequent reasons for students’ low intention to get vaccinated were their necessity for further research, unrevealed side effects of vaccines, and their opinion that vaccination was inefficient to limit the danger of infection [ 31 , 32 ]. Similarly, Shahwan et al [ 29 ] indicated that students had low confidence in COVID-19 vaccination and preferred vaccines to be domestically manufactured instead of imported.…”

Championing awareness of the opioid epidemic through a service-learning module for non-STEM biology majors

“…However, students who are not science majors (henceforth called "non-majors") are often left out of the conversation in terms of opioid pedagogies, despite making up part of the future collegeeducated citizenry. Non-majors may only complete one science class for their core requirements, and thus their required science course is an ideal environment to discuss how science (i.e., the science of opioids or vaccines) is relevant to their lives and their community, particularly for a topic of interest to the public (Knight and Smith, 2010;Blendon and Benson, 2018;Morra et al, 2022). Ongoing research indicates a pedagogy called active learning is particularly effective in the non-major classroom (Wilke, 2003;Knight and Smith, 2010;Mendoza et al, 2020;Adkins-Jablonsky et al, 2021).…”

“…Ongoing research in non-major biology courses is exploring the impact of SL on connecting biology with the community (Santas, 2009;Begley, 2013;Mendoza et al, 2020) particularly with contemporary issues (Morra et al, 2022). While some studies investigate the impacts of training medical and science students with hands-on training including life-saving Naloxone training (Berland et al, 2017), there is little research on these pedagogies in non-major science classrooms.…”