Will Anti-Epidemic Campus Signals Affect College Students’ Preparedness in the Post-COVID-19 Era?

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a tremendous global threat and challenge for human beings, and individuals need to be prepared for the next wave of the outbreak, especially in the educational setting. Limited research has focused on individual knowledge, awareness, and preparedness of COVID-19 in postsecondary institutions in the post-COVID-19 era so far. This study aimed to explore whether students’ perceived anti-epidemic campus signals had effects on their awareness of and preparedness for COVID-19. Leveraging the data collected from full-time college students in a province located in East China and building a structural regression model, we found that students’ perceived anti-epidemic campus signals were significantly associated with their awareness of and preparedness for COVID-19. With one perceived signal decrease, there were 0.099 unit and 0.051 unit decreases in students’ awareness and preparedness, respectively. In addition, we indeed found that female students had a higher awareness and better preparedness than their male peers. These findings provided important implications for postsecondary administrators and policymakers, as well as future research.