Does high school health education class satisfaction influence student perceptions of public health and pandemic response?

Abstract

The COVID-19pandemic significantly affected high school students. Little is known about the mediators of student perceptions of infection prevention and public health entities. We piloted a survey to evaluate the relationship between student perceptions of COVID-19 topics and satisfaction with their most recent health class. Students from one private high school in southeast Michigan completed a survey in early 2022. The primary outcomes were 4 domains: vaccination knowledge, intervention effectiveness, intervention impact, and willingness to readopt an intervention. We assessed the associations between health class satisfaction and these outcomes using multiple linear regression. One-hundred ninety students reported their health class satisfaction and were eligible for analysis. Students reported high confidence in vaccines (93%) but limited knowledge of COVID-19 vaccination (45%). Students perceived COVID-19 interventions as highly effective (range, 72% [hand hygiene]-93% [vaccination]) and reported a willingness to readopt them (range, 73% [stay-at-home orders]-96% [vaccination]). Health class satisfaction (54%) was positively associated with composite scores on vaccination knowledge and intervention effectiveness. Assessing students' intrapandemic perspectives on infection prevention illuminated areas of strength (ie, intervention confidence) and areas for improvement (ie, intervention knowledge and institutional confidence). Students reported favorable perceptions regarding common infection prevention interventions. Future work should investigate the role of educational satisfaction in mediating confidence in public health interventions and institutions.