3.2.3. Theme 3: Influences on Testing Participation
(i) Testing Freedom
Considering the challenges faced by participants, several students and staff expressed the motivation to participate in the pilot scheme based on the concept of “testing freedom”. For many, this seemed to be a psychological response of acquiring “peace of mind” from knowing they were not an asymptomatic COVID-19 carrier and they were making efforts to protect their friends, families and local communities. This response then engendered a practical freedom whereby individuals felt that participation in the testing would allow them to visit family members, or made them feel more comfortable to take part in general social activities: “I just wanted to know if I was positive so that I could take steps not to spread it and to kind of know that I was you know at risk and people near me were at risk so that was my main driver” (P128, female, staff, academic). However, the freedom of testing could also have more negative impacts on behaviour, as discussed in theme four.
(ii) External Influences
Participants referred to many external influences that acted as drivers to their participation in the programme. Many students had been encouraged to take part by family or friends, as well as university staff. Students alluded to being “in it together” and spoke of the expectation from other students that they would take part in the testing “yes, [it’s] like an activity so you would feel left out if you didn’t do it” (P93, female, Yr1, student). Some participants were driven to take part since they viewed this as a mechanism by which university students could contribute to the national effort.
(iii) Curiosity
Some students and staff were motivated to take part in the testing because of an underlying curiosity about their personal health status (i.e., COVID-19 negative or positive, potential immunity to COVID-19), or a scientific interest in the testing processes and the aligned research study.