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Background. Influenza vaccine hesitancy is a significant threat to global maneuvers for reducing the burden of seasonal and pandemic influenza. This study estimated the vaccine uptake, barriers, and willingness for influenza vaccines among university students in Saudi Arabia. Methods. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among health science (HS) and non-health science (NHS) university students. A 31-item questionnaire was used to ascertain the vaccination rate, barriers, and willingness for the flu vaccine. Results. This study included 790 students (mean age: 21.40 ± 1.94 years), 246 (31.1%) from HS and 544 (68.9%) from NHS disciplines. About 70% did not take flu shots before the arrival of the winter. The mean knowledge score was 7.81 ± 1.96, where 20.4%, 67.6%, and 12% of respondents had good, moderate, and poor knowledge regarding flu vaccines. The relative importance index (RII) analysis showed a lack of recommendation from physicians (51.5%, RI ranked: 1) was a top-ranked barrier to vaccine uptake, followed by negative perceptions and accessibility issues. Only 36.6% of the participants were willing to get vaccinated every year, 70% were willing to receive a vaccine on their doctor's recommendations, and 46% agreed to vaccinate if vaccines were freely available in the university. The knowledge, barriers, and willingness widely varied across students from two disciplines. Conclusions. Our analysis underscored low flu vaccine uptake among university students. In addition, the study participants' knowledge was unsatisfactory, and they were less inclined to receive the flu vaccine in the future. Lack of recommendation from the physicians, negative perceptions towards the flu vaccine, and difficult accessibility were found as significant barriers to the vaccine uptake. A multidimensional approach at educational institutes to cover the knowledge gap and address the barriers curtailing the vaccination rate among students is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of this study was to gather data from female students studying in both health and non-health colleges at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University and report the prevalence, reasons, and determinants of dietary supplements use. Methods: A month-long cross-sectional study was conducted in health and non-health colleges affiliated to Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Convenient sampling was employed, and the data was gathered through an online survey using the English and Arabic versions of the Dietary Supplement Questionnaire (DSQ). The data was analyzed using SPSS version 23 and Medcalc. The study was approved by an ethics committee. Results: Data from 545 participants was collected. The overall prevalence of dietary supplement use was 32.7% (95% CI: 29.06%– 36.51%). The prevalence was 29.77% (95% CI: 25.29%– 34.56%) among students at all health colleges combined and, it was 37.50% (95% CI: 31.36%– 43.96%) among students at all non-health colleges. Most students used a brand product, spent a monthly cost of SAR 286 (USD 76.3) on supplements and agreed that supplements were good for health (N = 392, 71.9%). Students from non-health- colleges agreed that dietary supplements are good for health in greater numbers as compared to non-health college students (p < 0.001). Students aged ≥ 20 years, studying in a non-health college and up to 3rd year of study, were more 2 times more likely to agree that dietary supplements are good for health. Conclusion: Supplements were commonly used among female students at this university however, it was quite low as compared to students from other local and regional universities. Prevalence was higher in non-health colleges as compared to health colleges and the most commonly used supplements were brand products and, multivitamins, used for general health and well-being. This highlights the inclination of students towards supplement use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The objective of the study was to evaluate the determinants affecting knowledge of healthcare students towards mental health challenges (MHCs) in a private medical university. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted to correlates the different determinants of university students with their knowledge towards MHCs in a private university in Malaysia. Validated questionnaires were distributed using a convenient stratified sampling technique among students studying in the different healthcare faculties, namely medicine, pharmacy and dentistry. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 24.0 was used to analyze the data. Results: Among 284 study participants, male students had less adequate knowledge than females. The majority of the students from the studied faculties had adequate knowledge of MHCs. Students of the age group of 25-30 years had adequate knowledge of MHCs. Multiple logistic regression revealed that statistically significant differences (p<0.05) were present among the three studied variables i.e., faculty, year of education and healthcare professionals in the family. Conclusion: Overall good knowledge of MHCs was observed among the studied cohort of the healthcare students of the private medical university. The present study concluded that faculty, year of education and healthcare professionals in the family were the observed determinants of knowledge about MHCs among the study participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed to determine sociodemographic correlates of practice towards oral hygiene (OH) among university students in a private university. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed among university students in Malaysia using a prevalidated questionnaire. The convenient stratified sampling method was adopted to recruit participants from four main faculties of a private university. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 24.0 was used to analyze the data. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to determine the correlates of practice of OH among the study participants. Results: Out of a total of 324 participants, female students had far-good practice towards OH than males. The final year students showed better OH practice than the pre-final years. Among the studied races, the Chinese students had the highest percentage of adequate practice than the rest. Overall, this study found that most of the students had fair to good practice towards OH. Conclusion: Multiple logistic regression analyses showed that statistically significant differences (p<0.05) were present among the six demographic variables. The current study found that age groups, race, faculty, year of education, parents' education, and healthcare professionals in the family were the sociodemographic correlates of practice towards OH among the university students in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]