The perceptions, attitudes and health seeking behaviour of nursing students at a university in the Western Cape regarding influenza

Abstract

According to Brown (2010), influenza kills and hospitalises thousands of people every year, about thirty-five thousand and two hundred thousand respectively. Some studies have shown that one of the major reasons that people do not take part in preventative behaviour concerning influenza would be some misconceptions and lack of knowledge. The purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions and attitudes of nursing students at a University in the Western Cape about influenza and their prevention and health seeking behaviour against influenza infection. This topic is important as nursing students are a part of the population group that is frequently exposed to influenza, either at their institutions of learning or in the hospitals and clinics, where they come into contact with patients in their roles as health care workers. A comprehensive review of the literature around perceptions and attitudes and health seeking behaviours regarding influenza was undertaken and considered by the researcher. Most of the literature reviewed came from Western countries as not much research has been done in Africa on the topic. From the literature reviewed, the researcher decided to use the Health Belief Model as a conceptual framework for this study as it has proven to be relatively effective in previous studies of this nature as well as in predicting people's health seeking behaviours.