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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1395941

Predicting COVID-19 Booster Intentions among College Students Using the Health Belief Model: Advancing Health Promotion Strategies for Uptake We declare no potential conflicts of interest

Provisionally accepted
Hannah P. Catalano Hannah P. Catalano 1Julianne Christofora Julianne Christofora 1Keith Richards Keith Richards 2*Katherine Hyatt Hawkins Shaw Katherine Hyatt Hawkins Shaw 3Kevin Kiser Kevin Kiser 1
  • 1 University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, North Carolina, United States
  • 2 School of Communication, East Carolina University, Greenville, United States
  • 3 George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: COVID-19 remains a significant public health threat. The primary purpose of this study was to test the health belief model (HBM) constructs in predicting COVID-19 booster intentions of college students. Methods: A total of 285 students enrolled at large public university in the Southeastern U.S., who were 18 years and older, completed an online survey to assess COVID-19 vaccination status, prior or current COVID-19 infection, demographics, and HBM constructs. Results: Over three quarters of the sample (81.4%, n = 232) was fully vaccinated, 2.1% (n=6) was partially vaccinated, and 16.5% (n = 47) was unvaccinated. Furthermore, 53.4% (n = 124) of students who self-reported being fully vaccinated also reported receiving the booster vaccine. Nearly half of the sample (49.1%, n = 140) self-reported previously or currently testing positive for COVID-19. Results of the stepwise multiple regression indicated the HBM constructs of perceived benefits (β =.596; p<.001) and cues to action (β =.275; p<.001) were significant predictors of respondents' behavioral intention to receive the COVID-19 booster in the next 6 months. The significant predictors at step 2 accounted for 64.6% (R 2 = .646, F (2, 111 = 101.331, p<.001) of the variance in behavioral intention to get the COVID-19 booster in the next 6 months. Conclusion: Practitioners developing HBM-based interventions to enhance COVID-19 booster intentions among college students should tailor health promotion strategies that target perceived benefits and cues to action. Although some of the HBM constructs were not statistically significant in the prediction model, they should not be entirely discounted in health promotion practice. Instead, practitioners should focus on supplemental strategies to improve those domains in college students.

    Keywords: COVID-19, Vaccination, health belief model, Behavioral Intention, college students

    Received: 04 Mar 2024; Accepted: 06 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Catalano, Christofora, Richards, Hyatt Hawkins Shaw and Kiser. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Keith Richards, School of Communication, East Carolina University, Greenville, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.