Health risk management behaviors and related factors among Japanese university students participating in short-term study abroad programs

Overseas travelers should prepare for health problems at their destinations prior to travel. No prospective studies have evaluated factors related to health risk management behaviors among overseas travelers, specifically young travelers. We prospectively collected data from pre- and post-travel questionnaire surveys, targeting students of a university in Japan who participated in short-term study abroad programs (n = 532, 6 to 38 travel days and 11 countries). We examined health information collection, receipt of travel vaccinations for the programs and medical kit preparation as health risk management behavior outcomes and their related factors among the participants (82.7% follow-up rate). In total, 17.5%, 8.0% (28.6% in Southeast Asia) and 68.9% of participants, respectively, collected travel health information via the Japanese or foreign official websites, received travel vaccinations and carried commonly used medicines. Female, travel experience to study destination, parental medical occupation and presence of illness in treatment were positively associated with the health risk management behaviors after adjusting for the covariates including study destination. For example, the adjusted odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval [CI]) of receiving travel vaccinations was 4.16 (1.70–10.2) for parental medical occupation relative to non-medical occupation. The adjusted OR (95% CI) of collecting travel health information was 2.54 (1.04–6.21) for travel experience to study destination relative to no overseas travel experience. Personal characteristics including overseas travel experience and parental occupation provide a useful insight into approaches to promoting health risk management among university students traveling abroad.