Department of Management Science and Technology, International Hellenic University, Kavala Campus, 654 04 Agios Loukas Kavala, Greece.
Department of Communication and Media Studies, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 105 62 Athens, Greece.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Jun 27;17(13):4633. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17134633.
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread on a global scale in an extremely short time, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths, and, at the same time, triggering extreme panic. Prevention in medicine is considered the best protection action for individuals in order to avoid infections. This study investigates whether Greek citizens ( = 3359) take the necessary precautions to prevent developing the COVID-19 disease, and it segments them based on homogenous behavior groups. Lastly, it provides communication techniques that should be implemented, targeting each citizen segment for a long-term COVID-19 free country. Data analysis revealed the extent of the applied precaution measures. The ones most applied by citizens were to avoid non-mandatory transportation, contact with individuals with respiratory symptoms, and individuals of high risk for severe illness (vulnerable groups). On the other hand, the least applied measures are daily checks of body temperature, monitoring for fever, cough, or dyspnea, use of a face mask when in public places, or when using public transportation. Additionally, cluster analysis revealed five groups of citizens based on self-reported behavior, namely, the Meticulous Proactive Citizens, the Self-isolated Citizens, the Cautious Citizens, the Occasionally Cautious Citizens, and the Unconcerned Citizens. Communication strategies targeting each segment are also discussed.
新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）在极短的时间内在全球范围内迅速传播，导致数十万人死亡，同时引发了极度恐慌。医学上的预防被认为是个人避免感染的最佳保护措施。本研究调查了希腊公民（=3359 人）是否采取了必要的预防措施来预防 COVID-19 疾病，并根据同质行为群体对他们进行了细分。最后，它提供了应该实施的沟通技巧，针对每个公民群体，以实现长期 COVID-19 无病国家。数据分析揭示了所应用预防措施的程度。公民最常采取的措施是避免非强制性交通、与有呼吸道症状的个人接触，以及有严重疾病高风险的个人（弱势群体）。另一方面，应用最少的措施是每天检查体温、监测发烧、咳嗽或呼吸困难、在公共场所或使用公共交通工具时戴口罩。此外，聚类分析根据自我报告的行为揭示了五个公民群体，即细致积极的公民、自我隔离的公民、谨慎的公民、偶尔谨慎的公民和不关心的公民。还讨论了针对每个群体的沟通策略。
