School of Journalism, Universidad Diego Portales.
School of Advertising, Universidad Diego Portales.
Health Commun. 2022 Nov;37(12):1544-1551. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2022.2091910. Epub 2022 Jul 6.
The literature in the field of health communication has shown the existence of gaps between groups of different socioeconomic levels both in exposure to health campaign messages and in the influence these messages exert on individuals' health decisions. In this article, we examine the association between educational attainment and exposure to messages promoting COVID-19 preventive behaviors, namely, physical distancing, handwashing, and masks wearing in Chile. In addition, we model the association between exposure to these messages and the intentions to carry out the behaviors, as well as the differences attributable to educational attainment in the influence of exposure. A cross-sectional population survey combining online and telephone techniques was conducted among 3,592 adults in Chile. Regression analysis revealed that lower educational level and frequency of television use were positively associated with greater exposure to preventive messages. Exposure to preventive messages, in turn, was positively associated with intentions to maintain the three behaviors examined. Individuals in the lower educational attainment group had lower intentions to engage in two of the three behaviors, but those in these segments who were more exposed to preventive messages were as likely as their more educated counterparts to intend wearing masks and adhering to physical distance. The findings of this study underscore the importance of reaching the least educated segments with campaign messages in the context of public health crisis, since these messages can close gaps between the more and less educated group in their intentions to engage in preventive behaviors.
健康传播领域的文献表明，在接触健康宣传信息和这些信息对个人健康决策的影响方面，不同社会经济水平群体之间存在差距。本文研究了智利教育程度与接触促进 COVID-19 预防行为信息之间的关系，即身体距离、洗手和戴口罩。此外，我们还建立了模型，以研究接触这些信息与实施这些行为的意愿之间的关联，以及接触程度对意愿的影响在教育程度方面的差异。在智利，采用在线和电话技术相结合的方法对 3592 名成年人进行了横断面人群调查。回归分析表明，教育程度较低和看电视的频率较高与更多地接触预防信息有关。反过来，接触预防信息与维持三种被检查行为的意愿呈正相关。教育程度较低的个体在参与三种行为中的两种行为的意愿较低，但在这些群体中，接触预防信息较多的个体与教育程度较高的个体一样，有意戴口罩并遵守身体距离。这项研究的结果强调了在公共卫生危机背景下，用宣传信息覆盖受教育程度较低群体的重要性，因为这些信息可以缩小教育程度较高和较低群体在实施预防行为方面的意愿差距。
