Using the health belief model to examine the effect of educational programs on individual protective behaviors toward seasonal influenza

The purpose of this study is to use Health Belief Model (HBM) concepts to predict public's intentions to develop protective behaviors toward seasonal influenza (vaccination and social-distancing) and to explore the effect of education (awareness) programs on individual's protective behaviors. In order to study individual's behaviors toward developing protective strategies against seasonal influenza, two groups of undergraduate students with similar demographic and educational backgrounds were studied. The first group (control) represented the behavioral patterns of participants, based on their general knowledge of influenza and its interventions while the second group (treatment) represented the behavioral patterns of participants who have been educated by a healthcare expert. The results suggest that educational programs or information distributions which provide sufficient information to increase individuals' perceived susceptibility toward influenza, and also provide them with enough information on influenza vaccination, its efficiency, its low potential side effects and its availability, could increase the rate of the development of these efficient protective behaviors among students. Our work indicates that educational programs which focus on susceptibility to the influenza virus and the perceived benefits and perceived barriers of social distancing will have a better effect on increasing the rate of social distancing among students.