Assessment of health awareness and its sources among journalism and mass communication students at yarmouk...

This study assesses the overall health awareness level of students of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Yarmouk University/Jordan who are supposed to have an important leadership role among mass media professionals in Jordan. A Health Awareness Test (HAT) was administered to a random sample of 139 students of this group (52.85% of the target population). Findings revealed that their overall average performance on the HAT was significantly much lower than the acceptable criterion score determined by the HAT authors. Female students' performance on the HAT was significantly higher than males' performance. The academic level of these students (2nd, 3rd or 4th academic year) did not have significant influence on their scores. Furthermore, the two-way ANOVA analysis showed that there was no significant difference in the achievement of the study subjects on the HAT by sex and academic level. The major sources of the health awareness information of these students ranked by order were: mass media, self-education, academic preparation (information included in the curricula), family and peers, and finally cultural events in the form of extra-curricular activities at the University. Recommendations based upon these results are given.