Division of Public Administration and Policy, School of Political Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
Int J Health Policy Manag. 2022 Jul 1;11(7):1172-1186. doi: 10.34172/ijhpm.2021.21. Epub 2021 Apr 1.
The coronavirus outbreak has demonstrated the crucial effect of the public's compliance with the government's health instructions on the population's health. However, evidence shows that some communities are less likely to comply with such instructions than others. This study highlights the factors related to intentions to comply with newly issued health directives during an ongoing extreme crisis, such as the current pandemic. In addition, it compares the impact of these factors on different minority groups and the general population in Israel.
Using an online survey (N=1005), we examined the impact of compliance-related factors on compliance intentions with newly issued health directives in two minority groups in Israel: the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community (N=323) and the Arab community (N=361), as well as in the general population (N=321), during the first outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Participants were presented with a new made-up COVID-19-related instruction simulated to be issued by the Israeli Ministry of Health. Compliance intentions and compliance-related factors were measured.
The Arab minority expressed greater intentions of complying with the instructions than the other groups. Perceptions on risk and the effectiveness of the instruction were the only two significantly associated factors with compliance intentions in all of the social groups. Additional factors affected different groups to different extents. Trust in government was related to compliance intentions only in the Arab minority.
Intentions to comply with health instructions during a crisis differ in various minority groups and in comparison to the general population, both in their levels and in the factors related to them. Policy-makers and health authorities should consider providing information about the risks and negative outcomes of the crisis as well as the expected effectiveness of the recommended behaviors. Future research should examine other minority groups and other types of instructions in different stages of a crisis.
冠状病毒的爆发表明了公众对政府健康指令的遵守对民众健康的至关重要的影响。然而，有证据表明，一些社区比其他社区更不可能遵守这些指令。本研究强调了在当前大流行等持续的极端危机期间与遵守新发布的健康指令的意图相关的因素。此外，它比较了这些因素对以色列不同少数民族群体和一般人群的影响。
我们使用在线调查（N=1005），在以色列的两个少数民族群体中检查了与遵守相关的因素对遵守新发布的健康指令的意图的影响：极端正统派犹太社区（N=323）和阿拉伯社区（N=361），以及一般人群（N=321），在 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）的首次爆发期间。向参与者呈现了一项新的、虚构的与 COVID-19 相关的指令，模拟由以色列卫生部发布。测量了遵守意图和与遵守相关的因素。
阿拉伯少数民族比其他群体表现出更大的遵守指令的意图。对风险和指令有效性的感知是所有社会群体中唯一与遵守意图显著相关的两个因素。其他因素以不同的程度影响不同的群体。对政府的信任仅与阿拉伯少数民族的遵守意图有关。
在危机期间，不同少数民族群体和与一般人群相比，遵守健康指令的意图在其水平和与之相关的因素方面存在差异。政策制定者和卫生当局应考虑提供有关危机的风险和负面后果的信息，以及建议行为的预期效果。未来的研究应在危机的不同阶段研究其他少数民族群体和其他类型的指令。
