Vaccines are an important and societally relevant biology topic, but it is unclear how much college biology students know about how vaccines work and what inaccurate ideas they have about that process. Therefore, we asked more than 600 college students taking biology courses at various levels to explain, "How does a vaccine work?" in a…

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has underscored the importance of mRNA vaccines. The mechanism for how such vaccines work is related to the core biology topic of the central dogma, which students often misunderstand despite its importance. Therefore, we wanted to know whether students can apply their biology knowledge of central…

Health misinformation is a problem on social media, and more understanding is needed about how users cognitively process it. In this study, participants' accuracy in determining whether 60 health claims were true (e.g., "Vaccines prevent disease outbreaks") or false (e.g., "Vaccines cause disease outbreaks") was assessed. The…

The 2019 coronavirus disease pandemic underlined a shift in attitudes against vaccines and a rise in hesitancy among some members of the population, despite the overwhelming evidence that vaccinations are one of the most successful and safe health interventions. Research has shown that vaccine hesitancy is complex and can result from an…

Objective: Seasonal influenza is a preventable disease that may cause high morbidity and mortality. In the USA, the 2020 influenza season overlapped with the first wave of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. There is a dearth of research on understanding influenza vaccination uptake and attitudes towards the vaccine among marginalised…

In the coronavirus "infodemic," people are exposed to official recommendations but also to potentially dangerous pseudoscientific advice claimed to protect against COVID-19. We examined whether irrational beliefs predict adherence to COVID-19 guidelines as well as susceptibility to such misinformation. Irrational beliefs were indexed by…

The current work was conducted to better understand the influences of source presence and individual differences on evaluating and sharing information from multiple conflicting Internet texts about childhood vaccinations. The results indicate that college student readers appeared to be insensitive to a source availability manipulation. However,…

It is common for individuals to have misconceptions across a range of subject matters. Although interventions to correct misconceptions are largely successful, at times they may fail. The current study explores how corrections may be perceived to conflict with aspects of personal or social identity and engender experience of negative emotions and…

The purpose of this study was to describe college-aged females' human papillomavirus (HPV) knowledge and beliefs, perceptions and perceived benefits of the HPV vaccine, and identify characteristics associated with vaccination status and support for HPV vaccine mandates. Data were collected from 1,105 females by an Internet-delivered questionnaire…

With the advent of Web 2.0 media, there is a greater prevalence of science misinformation available to the public. This issue is particularly problematic for novices who often believe that science in the media is factual and objective, even though an expected outcome of secondary education is to develop students' abilities to critically evaluate…

Non-parent college students enrolled in a lifespan developmental psychology course were assessed at two time points (beginning of the semester and shortly after midterm) on knowledge and attitudes that would likely to be useful for the transition to parenthood. Students reported perceived change in knowledge and attitudes, and repeated measures…

Objective: This study assessed the immediate effects of edutainment modules on changes in knowledge and perceptions towards the Expanded Programme for Immunisation (EPI) among an under served minority (Lisu) population. Method: An edutainment module was developed on mobile tablets for use by village health volunteers. As the study was conducted…

Objective: To assess knowledge of human papillomavirus (HPV) and perceived barriers to being vaccinated against the virus. Participants: Three hundred ninety-six undergraduate women enrolled at Penn State University in Fall 2008. Methods: A random sample of students were invited to participate in a Web-based survey. Results: Awareness of HPV and…

Purpose: The aim of this small-scale focus group study is to explore the impact the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine has on attitudes towards HPV, cervical cancer and sexual risk taking amongst university students in the UK. Design/methodology/approach: Participants were recruited through advertisements placed on notice boards throughout the…

This study describes 5th, 8th, and 11th-grade students', teachers', and medical professionals' conceptions of flu and microbial illness. Participants constructed a concept map on "flu" and participated in a semi-structured interview. The results showed that these groups of students, teachers and medical professionals held and structured their…