Department of Mass Communication, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Enugu, Nigeria.
Department of Geography, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Enugu, Nigeria.
BMC Public Health. 2024 Oct 24;24(1):2951. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-20442-8.
South Africa was the worst affected country in Africa by the COVID-19 pandemic and it is important to interrogate the attitude of the populace towards the pandemic for future interventions. Therefore, this study examined effects of mass media messages, susceptibility to COVID-19 and self-rated health on the attitudes of South Africans towards the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data was from the National Income Dynamics Study - Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM) of 2021 which is a nationally representative panel survey of about 7,000 South African individuals in all the nine provinces. Analyses of data were through descriptive statistics, chi square test and logistic regression models.
The results showed that 61.28% of the resondents did not take COVID-19 test while 91.09% of them engaged in behavioral changes such as social distancing and wearing of face masks. In addition, 74.27% of the respondents had access to mass media information, 70.44% believed they have good physical health while 32.43% felt they were not susceptible to COVID-19. The chi-square results of attitude towards COVID-19 showed significant differences in access to mass media messages on COVID-19, race, and province of residence. Furthermore, respondents who had access to mass media information on COVID-19 (OR = 1.469; p = 0.001) and respondents who believed that they were susceptible to COVID-19 infection (OR = 1.443; p = 0.001) were significantly associated with increased likelihood of engagement in behavioral changes to avoid the COVID-19.
These findings therefore emphasize the need for increased awareness and sensitization of the people about the susceptibility and adverse effects of diseases to ensure that they adopt the appropriate attitudes that will safeguard them from such diseases outbreak.
南非是非洲受 COVID-19 大流行影响最严重的国家，因此，了解民众对大流行的态度对于未来的干预措施非常重要。因此，本研究调查了大众媒体信息、对 COVID-19 的易感性和自我评估健康对南非人对 COVID-19 大流行的态度的影响。
数据来自 2021 年国家收入动态研究-冠状病毒快速移动调查（NIDS-CRAM），这是一项针对南非全国 9 个省约 7000 名个人的全国代表性面板调查。通过描述性统计、卡方检验和逻辑回归模型对数据进行分析。
结果显示，61.28%的受访者没有进行 COVID-19 检测，而 91.09%的受访者采取了社交距离和戴口罩等行为改变措施。此外，74.27%的受访者能够获取大众媒体信息，70.44%的受访者认为自己身体健康状况良好，而 32.43%的受访者认为自己不易感染 COVID-19。对 COVID-19 态度的卡方检验结果显示，在获取 COVID-19 大众媒体信息、种族和居住省份方面存在显著差异。此外，接触过 COVID-19 大众媒体信息的受访者（OR=1.469；p=0.001）和认为自己易感染 COVID-19 的受访者（OR=1.443；p=0.001）与采取行为改变措施以避免 COVID-19 的可能性显著增加相关。
这些发现因此强调了需要提高人们对疾病的易感性和不良影响的认识和敏感度，以确保他们采取适当的态度，使他们免受此类疾病爆发的影响。
