I had symptoms consistent with flu, e.g. fever and a cough/runny nose I had symptoms consistent with flu and I had an exam/assessment due or work deadline I was well but knew that a fellow student or staff member had contracted the flu A family member or close contact had flu-like symptoms e.g. fever and a cough/runny nose I was well but I knew that the number of cases of swine flu had increased in Australia Not be worried Approach the individual Approach the individual and ask him/her to comply with specific health measures, e.g. leaving the area, observing respiratory etiquette Not approach the individual Not approach the individual and increase personal hygiene, e.g. moving away, leaving the area or hand-washing afterwards “If you attend a lecture/meeting and are sitting near someone who is coughing/sneezing, would you.” 86 (13.3) 256 (39.6) 549 (85.0) 524 (81.1) 612 (94.7) 108 (16.7) 4 (0.6) 61 (9.4) 225 (34.8) 244 (37.8) 407 (21.7) 1248 (66.5) 1428 (76.1) 1451 (77.7) 1719 (91.6) 366 (19.5) 3 (0.2) 60 (3.2) 776 (41.4) 665 (35.4) Page 7 of 9 550 (19.1) 1659 (57.6) 2272 (78.8) 2244 (77.9) 2672 (92.7) 541 (18.8) 12 (0.4) 144 (5.0) 1119 (38.8) 1053 (36.5) Academic Staff n = 360 (%) 57 (15.8) 155 (43.1) 295 (81.9) 269 (74.7) 341 (94.7) 67 (18.6) 5 (1.4) 23 (6.4) 118 (32.8) 144 (40.0) General Staff Students Total n = 646 (%) n = 1876 (%) n = 2882 (%) Van et al. BMC Public Health 2010, 10:130 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/10/130 Table 4 Intended behaviour at the University “I would come into university if...” behaviour in this population. Along with encouraging students to self-isolate in the case of illness, there must be ongoing education about the importance of infection control, especially when anxiety rates and risk percep- tions are low. Health messages need to educate students about the impact of the illness on their studies, and Universities should emphasise their illness/misadventure assessment policies during disease outbreaks. Online resources such as lecture recordings and forum tutorials allow for off-campus education, and can pro- vide continuity of learning for students undergoing iso- lation. However in our study, few respondents had adopted the use of online teaching or learning resources as a result of pandemic influenza (H1N1). This may be due to a number of factors including: (1) the apparent mildness of the pandemic; and/or (2) the lack of promo- tion by the University to use these resources. It was encouraging to see that students were very willing to continue University schooling via online resources, indi- cating the potential for expanding the existing UNSW online teaching resources. While it was encouraging that students would undertake online courses, we found very little support for an online teaching method among the academic staff members. Reluctance to use online resources was associated with increased age, and may be due to unfamiliarity with or resistance to technology. In preparation for an outbreak, Universities should focus on creating additional support for technologies that allow faculty and students to continue their teaching and learning activities which minimise disruption. Online recordings, virtual learning environment, blogs, web conferencing and discussion forums should all be utilised to assist in the delivery of lessons. Having a con- tingency and communication plan for teaching key sec- tions may provide the needed continuity for students and faculty. Training must be provided in the pre-pan- demic periods to minimise disruption. We found that most respondents had not made any lifestyle changes or undertaken any specific behaviour change despite receiving information from the Univer- sity. This may be attributed to the mildness of pandemic (H1N1) 2009. This finding supports both the pre-pan- demic and post-SARS findings on the dose-response relationship between outbreak severity and the responses to it [13,14]. Of the respondents who did indi- cate behaviour change, increased hand hygiene was the most common. It would therefore be beneficial and at minimal cost for institutions such as Universities to pro- vide extra hand-washing facilities and posters encoura- ging compliance in communal areas and computer labs. Universities could also boost hygienic practices by openly distributing small bottles of hand gels or tissue packets to staff and students on campus. Close to 60% of our respondents stated that they were ‘very willing’ to receive a hypothetical pandemic vaccine. As the survey period ended before the vaccine became available, we were unable to follow up participants to ascertain if they did receive the vaccine. In Australia, the H1N1 vaccine was not released until September 2009, by which time, virus activity was very low. A recent national survey [15], found that although 96% of the Australian cohort was aware of an available pan- demic vaccine, less than 20% had received the vaccine. We can therefore expect similarly low vaccination rates