ISGlobal, Hospital Clínic Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Vector Control Services, Ministry of Health, Georgetown, Guyana.
Sci Rep. 2023 Oct 6;13(1):16866. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-43991-1.
Preventing vector-borne diseases (VBDs) mainly relies on effective vector control tools and strategies, which in turn depend on population acceptance and adherence. Inspired by the abundant recent literature on SARS-COV-2, we investigate the relationship between risk perception and preventive behaviour for selected VBDs and the extent to which risk perception is determined by social norms. We use cross-sectional data collected from 497 individuals in four regions of Guyana in 2017. We use a conditional mixed process estimator with multilevel coefficients, estimated through a Generalized Linear Model (GLM) framework, applying a simultaneous equation structure. We find robust results on malaria: risk perception was significantly influenced by the risk perception of the reference group across different definitions of the reference group, hinting at the existence of social norms. Risk perception significantly increased the likelihood of passive behaviour by 4.48%. Less clear-cut results were found for dengue. This study applies quantitative social science methods to public health issues in the context of VBDs. Our findings point to the relevance of tailoring communications on health risks for VBDs to groups defined at the intersection of socio-economic and demographic characteristics. Such tailored strategies are expected to align risk perception among reference groups and boost preventive behaviour.
预防病媒传播疾病（VBDs）主要依赖于有效的病媒控制工具和策略，而这些又取决于人口的接受度和依从性。受 SARS-COV-2 相关大量最新文献的启发，我们研究了选定的 VBD 风险感知与预防行为之间的关系，以及风险感知在多大程度上受到社会规范的影响。我们使用了 2017 年在圭亚那四个地区从 497 个人收集的横断面数据。我们使用了具有多层次系数的条件混合过程估计量，通过广义线性模型（GLM）框架进行估计，采用了联立方程结构。我们在疟疾方面得到了稳健的结果：风险感知显著受到参考群体风险感知的影响，这表明社会规范的存在。风险感知使被动行为的可能性增加了 4.48%。对于登革热，结果则不太明确。本研究将定量社会科学方法应用于 VBD 背景下的公共卫生问题。我们的研究结果表明，有必要针对社会经济和人口特征交叉定义的群体，量身定制关于 VBD 健康风险的沟通。此类量身定制的策略有望使参考群体之间的风险感知保持一致，并促进预防行为。
