The purpose of this study is to explore the level of knowledge, attitude and behavior about preventing Avian Influenza of Asia University students. According to the statistics from the Academic Affairs Office in November 2005, there are 17 departments in the university, and one class (as a sample unit) is chosen from each undergraduate program and graduate school to participate in the survey. The questionnaire is created based on the Health Belief Model. There are a total of 595 legitimate responses from the participants, and returned ratio is 70.8% and 586 are valid.
The result shows that nearly 60 percent of Asia University students have heard and known about Avian Influenza, 10 percent have heard about it but do not understand the disease and 30 percent have not heard about it. According to the data from this research, the main sources of information about preventing Avian Influenza come from TV news reports, the Internet, newspapers and magazines. The college of health science gain more information from hospitals and health units than other colleges.
The more the participants understand and are sensitive to the severity of Avian Influenza, the more they understand the disease and the ways of preventing it. By gender, the knowledge of the severity and other factors, we can effectively predict participants? levels of understanding of the disease.
From the findings, the researcher indicates that since the participants have limited knowledge about Avian Influenza and the related information, the education units should realize and emphasize the importance of hygiene education and of offering the information about the disease to the public. Other than from the media and TV news, the main information sources are the Internet, newspapers and hospitals; therefore, the education units and health units may make good use of them and proactively promote hygiene education and the related information.
