Evaluation of Preventive, Supportive and Awareness Building Measures among International Students in China in Response to COVID-19: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

Abstract

Background The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) with its high mortality, stigma and panic has compelled many cities and countries to complete lockdown. The worldwide student group is one of the most affected and vulnerable communities in this situation. Our current study aimed to assess the impact of the behavior change communication among international students in China in current COVID-19 crisis.Methods In this paper, we have utilized partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to understand the health behaviour changes of international students in China in response to novel Coronavirus outbreak. We mainly analyzed the relationship among the three selected latent variables (preventive, supportive and awareness building) based on a survey among the international students (n=467) in China in February 2020. We obtained their valuable responses regarding level of awareness, satisfaction and trust in authorities (i.e., government, local authorities and institutions) during this emergency period. Results We utilized 22 indicators in the conceptual framework model with the help of Smart PLS 2.0 version software. The lowest average variance extracted (AVE) for all the constructs of our paper exceeded the minimum accepted value of 0.5, representing the adequate convergent validity. Prediction of students’ satisfaction, the key outcome degree of the model, was nearly moderate, with an R2 = 0.507 whereas the prediction of trust in authorities was above substantial, with an R2 = 0.797. Therefore, our PLS-SEM model showed a strong and significant positive association between preventive and supportive measures taken for the study population and gaining trust, awareness and satisfaction in authorities. Conclusions Integrated partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) can be a great way to measure the satisfaction and trust level of various population groups over government, local authorities, and institutions in public health emergency like COVID-19 crisis. We believe that our findings are important for travel and global health perspectives. Other countries can learn and take necessary initiatives for their international students and general public to halt this deadly epidemic with gaining their satisfaction and trust as well.

Assessing the quality of life of university students during COVID-19 lockdown: A structural equation modelling approach

“…The internal construction of the framework revealed that social aspects have the most substantial impact on Quality of Life (0.446), followed by Psychological Aspects (0.329), Environmental aspects (0.198) and Physical Aspects (0.237). These outcomes indicate the structural path of all the hypothesized constructs contains signi cant correlational impacts, which is well above the expected values of 0.2[28, 29,33]. Since, the relationship between environmental aspects and quality of life (QOL) is very close to the expected value and well passed the threshold value of 0.1, therefore, in the context of the study, we assumed it passed the signi cance test as suggested [32,34].…”

“…Structural equation modeling (SEM) is designed with the two-phase model (i) measurement model and (ii) structural model. The measurement model depicts the inner relationships between latent variables and observed variables, and the latter, along with the structural model, is used to investigate loadings and estimate indicators [27][28][29]. The conceptual framework model was run using Smart PLS 2.0, and the structural framework used in the hypothesis testing segment is shown in Fig.…”