College of Education, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA.
Christine E. Lynn, College of Nursing, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA.
J Community Health. 2022 Aug;47(4):627-634. doi: 10.1007/s10900-022-01090-8. Epub 2022 Apr 22.
Early in the pandemic and prior to the development of the COVID-19 vaccine, prevention measures were promoted to help inhibit the spread of the virus. To optimize adherence to prevention practices, it's important to understand factors that may influence adherence. A study was conducted in the month of April, 2020, to explore the influence of perceptions of COVID-19 on prevention practices. The sample included members of a public social-media group focused on providing updates and information on COVID-19. A total of 719 individuals completed an online survey that assessed various aspects of COVID-19 which included experience, perceptions, and prevention practices. The perceptions of COVID-19 included perceived susceptibility of contracting the virus, and perceived potential severity if contracted COVID-19. To assess prevention practices, the survey included a 10-item prevention practices questionnaire that included items such as wearing a mask, and social distancing. Results revealed that perceived susceptibility of contracting COVID-19, and potential severity of COVID-19 were significant in predicting prevention practices. Further, results suggest that perceived potential severity predicts a greater proportion of the variance in prevention practices than susceptibility of contracting COVID-19. In addition, a moderation analysis revealed no interaction between perceived susceptibility and severity, which provides evidence that the variables do not influence one another. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
在大流行早期，COVID-19 疫苗尚未开发之前，就已经推广了预防措施来帮助抑制病毒传播。为了优化对预防措施的坚持，了解可能影响坚持的因素很重要。一项研究于 2020 年 4 月进行，旨在探索对 COVID-19 的认知对预防措施的影响。该样本包括一个专注于提供 COVID-19 更新和信息的公共社交媒体群组的成员。共有 719 人完成了一项在线调查，该调查评估了 COVID-19 的各个方面，包括经验、认知和预防措施。对 COVID-19 的认知包括对感染病毒的易感性和感染 COVID-19 的潜在严重性的认知。为了评估预防措施，该调查包括一个包含 10 个项目的预防措施调查问卷，其中包括戴口罩和保持社交距离等项目。结果表明，对感染 COVID-19 的易感性和 COVID-19 的潜在严重性对预防措施有显著影响。此外，结果表明，潜在严重程度比感染 COVID-19 的易感性更能预测预防措施的差异。此外，一项调节分析显示，对感染的易感性和严重程度之间没有相互作用，这表明这些变量彼此没有影响。讨论了理论和实践意义。
