AUTHOR=Qin Shangren , Zhou Mengqiu , Ding Ye 

TITLE=Risk Perception Measurement and Influencing Factors of COVID-19 in Medical College Students

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.774572

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2021.774572

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Purpose: In China, COVID-19 pandemic has been under control and enters the normal prevention and control stage. For medical college students, many studies have analyzed their knowledge, risk perception, and prevention behaviors of COVID-19, but little research explores their content structure of COVID-19 risk perception and the influencing factors. This study measured their risk perception of COVID-19 and dimensions, and analyzed the influencing factors of risk perception among them. 
Methods: Online questionnaire survey was conducted at Hangzhou Medical College in Zhejiang Province among undergraduates and junior college students. A scale was formulated to precisely measure and analyze the COVID-19 risk perception among medical college students. The factors affecting COVID-19 risk perception in medical college students were analyzed using the multivariate linear regression model. 
Results: A total of 810 medical students participated in the survey. Results show that COVID-19 risk perception among medical college students was divided into four dimensions: perceived health threat, perceived severity, perceived controllability, and perceived infection possibility. The results showed that income, education, major and COVID-19 knowledge were the important factors affecting the COVID-19 risk perception of medical college students. Related factors have different influences on the various dimensions of COVID-19 risk perception. COVID-19 knowledge was significantly related to all dimensions of risk perception.
Conclusion: This study evaluates the content structure of medical college students’ risk perception of COVID-19 precisely and related influencing factors. It is necessary to grasp the risk perception, prevention and control behaviors of medical college students of different backgrounds, education levels, and majors. Further knowledge training should be conducted for students majoring in clinical medicine, especially the pandemic prevention and control measure training to enhance their sense of security at work.