The Louis and Gabi Weisfeld School of Social Work, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, 52900, Israel.
Faculty of Graduate Studies, Oranim Academic College of Education, Kiryat Tiv'on, Israel.
BMC Public Health. 2020 Nov 16;20(1):1718. doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-09818-8.
The lay public's behavioral responses during a virus spread, such as the COVID-19, play an important role in bringing the outbreak under control, and provide insights into development of risk communication messages to the public. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the association between knowledge about COVID-19, perceived susceptibility, emotional reactions and precautionary behavior among the Israeli lay public at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak.
A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1407 participants, aged 18 + . Participants completed measures of knowledge about COVID-19, perceived susceptibility, emotional reactions, precautionary behavior, and socio-demographic questionnaires. A hierarchical regression model was calculated with precautionary behavior as the dependent variable.
Findings indicated that precautionary behavior was higher for females, older participants, participants with higher levels of knowledge about COVID-19, and participants with greater negative emotional reactions. A negative curvilinear relationship was found between perceived susceptibility and precautionary behavior, so that the latter was highest for participants with moderate perceived susceptibility. All interaction terms were non-significant.
Findings suggest that in order to enhance precautionary behavior in the initial stage of a virus outbreak, it is recommended to pay attention to the public's knowledge about the virus, perceived susceptibility and emotional reactions. Although negative feelings about the virus may motivate preventive behavior, it is important to address these feelings.
公众在病毒传播期间的行为反应，如 COVID-19，对于控制疫情的传播起着重要作用，并为向公众传达风险沟通信息提供了启示。因此，本研究旨在探讨 COVID-19 爆发初期，以色列普通公众对 COVID-19 的了解程度、感知易感性、情绪反应与预防行为之间的关系。
对 1407 名年龄在 18 岁及以上的参与者进行了一项横断面研究。参与者完成了 COVID-19 知识、感知易感性、情绪反应、预防行为以及社会人口学问卷的测量。以预防行为为因变量，计算了分层回归模型。
研究结果表明，女性、年龄较大的参与者、COVID-19 知识水平较高的参与者以及负面情绪反应较强的参与者，其预防行为较高。感知易感性与预防行为呈负曲线关系，因此中度感知易感性的参与者的预防行为最高。所有交互项均无统计学意义。
研究结果表明，为了在病毒爆发的初始阶段增强预防行为，建议关注公众对病毒的了解程度、感知易感性和情绪反应。尽管对病毒的负面情绪可能会促使预防行为，但需要注意这些情绪。
