In January 2020, the World Health Organization declared the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak to be a public health emergency. More than 500 million cases and more than 6 million deaths have been reported, with these numbers growing each day. A major public health initiative for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic was vaccine development…

Introduction: Influenza affected an estimated 9 to 41 million individuals from 2018 to 2023 (CDC, 2023). Despite vaccination being highly effective, rates remain low on college campuses. This project evaluated a new vaccination delivery model at a university in Northeast Florida. The Student Health Center collaborated with undergraduate nursing…

Community college women do not obtain the HPV vaccine at the same rate as university women. The aim of this study was to discover the perceptions of community college women in relation to the human papillomavirus (HPV) and associated cancers, the perceived barriers and benefits of obtaining the HPV vaccination, and how health behavior decisions…

Neisseria meningitides serogroup B, commonly referred to as Meningococcal B or Meningitis B, is a highly contagious bacterial infection primarily afflicting the college-aged population with disease contraction resulting in death or severe debilitation if not expediently diagnosed and treated. Currently, there are two vaccines, Bexsero and…

Background: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identified Human Papillomavirus (HPV) as the most prevalent sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the United States, with approximately 24 million Americans currently infected. In 2018, men, ages 15-59, had higher HPV infection rates and HPV high-risk type infections compared to…

Background: Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the US affecting almost 60% of college women ages 20 to 24 years. At one west coast community college, two thirds of males and half of females were unaware of HPV vaccine recommendation through age 26 years. Objectives: This aim of this project is…

The human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most prevalent sexually transmitted infection in the United States. Annually, in the U.S., there are over 27,000 individuals diagnosed with cancers that are caused by the human papillomavirus. The total health care cost related to cervical cancer alone in the U.S. is $3.7 billion (Thomas, 2016). The HPV…

In an increasingly complex world, it is imperative that undergraduate science courses prepare students to make confident, informed decisions and predictions. The research presented in this thesis focuses on supporting students to engage in mechanistic reasoning (MR) about phenomena in chemistry and biology (that is, thinking about how and why…

The public health problem of ensuring that teens and preteens receive the HPV vaccination series justified this study, using a convenience sample (N=122) of parents, 68 of whom were English-speaking parents (ESP) and 54 were Spanish-speaking parents (SSP). Among ESP, 94.1% (n=64) were females and 5.9% (n=4) were males. Among SSP, 98.1% (n=53) were…

The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) can cause some types of cancer and is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the US. Because most people turn to the internet for health information, this study analyzed HPV information found online. A content analysis was conducted on 69 web search results (URLs) from Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask. The…

This dissertation aimed at examining the predictors of HPV vaccination intentions of college students in a Kenyan university and those in a Midwest university in the United States of America (USA). Using the theory of planned behavior (TPB), the dissertation investigated the most salient factors that predict the vaccination intentions of college…

Influenza is a well-documented risk for students attending colleges and universities. Despite the expert recommendations, there remains a low vaccination rate amongst undergraduate students. This study was an action research study utilizing the theory of planned behavior to evaluate the intentions of students in receiving the influenza…

One of the challenges humans face is making collective decisions with regards to controversial issues related to science, namely socio-scientific issues (SSIs). Genetic modification, nuclear energy, experimental drugs, 5G technology are a few examples of SSIs. Some of the concerns posed by such issues are compromise to privacy and identity, threat…

Today, the majority of American adults uses the internet and looks for health information online. Of interest in this dissertation are people who do not subscribe to mainstream views of health, and may use the internet to discover, bolster, or share their alternative views. Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have named…

This dissertation evaluates the effectiveness of a customized educational health intervention on sexual health and female cancer prevention among young women in Pakistan and evaluates the applicability of the integrated model of behavior prevention (IM) when predicting three health behaviors among this population. The study used randomized…