Vicerra Paolo Miguel Manalang
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Gerontol Geriatr Med. 2021 Feb 26;7:2333721421997207. doi: 10.1177/2333721421997207. eCollection 2021 Jan-Dec.
This study analyzed the difference between rural and urban older adults in Thailand regarding the relationship between the knowledge and behavior toward the prevention of contracting COVID-19. Path analysis was used to observe if the performance of protective behaviors was affected by the level of knowledge that older people have about the disease. This study used the Impact of COVID-19 on Older Persons in Thailand survey collected across the five regions of the country. Rural residents benefited from community network of village health volunteers who provided information during the pandemic but, they had disadvantages on accessing newer media sources, mainly the internet, for the latest developments on COVID-19. Rural older adults had a higher level of knowledge about COVID-19 than those in urban areas; no difference was observed regarding their behavior to prevent themselves from being infected. The knowledge-behavior gap was viewed as a mechanism of cognitive avoidance because of overwhelming unprecedented information.
本研究分析了泰国农村和城市老年人在预防感染COVID-19的知识与行为之间的关系差异。采用路径分析来观察老年人对该疾病的知识水平是否会影响其保护行为的表现。本研究使用了在泰国五个地区收集的“COVID-19对泰国老年人的影响”调查数据。农村居民受益于乡村卫生志愿者的社区网络，这些志愿者在疫情期间提供信息，但他们在获取新媒体来源（主要是互联网）以了解COVID-19的最新进展方面存在劣势。农村老年人对COVID-19的了解程度高于城市地区的老年人；在预防感染的行为方面未观察到差异。由于前所未有的大量信息，知识-行为差距被视为一种认知回避机制。
