Kallemose Thomas, Kirk Jeanette Wassar, Karlsson Elin, Seing Ida, Stefánsdóttir Nina Thórný, Vrangbæk Karsten, Andersen Ove, Nilsen Per
Department of Clinical Research, Copenhagen University Hospital - Amager and Hvidovre, 2650, Hvidovre, Denmark.
Department of Health and Social Context, National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, 5230, Odense, Denmark.
BMC Glob Public Health. 2023 Aug 9;1(1):12. doi: 10.1186/s44263-023-00009-2.
The initial responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark and Sweden differed markedly. Balancing disparate concerns was crucial to generate trust in the COVID-19 restrictions. The aim was to investigate the extent to which there was trust in the handling of the pandemic by the Danish and Swedish governments and public health authorities in each country. A further aim was also to investigate the characteristics of those in Denmark and Sweden who expressed the lowest degree of trust.
Cross-sectional surveys were conducted in 2021, using web panels that are nationally representative of the socio-demographic characteristics. The population consisted of 2619 individuals from Denmark and 2633 from Sweden, representative of the age, sex and region of residence of the populations aged ≥ 18 years. Trust in government and health authorities was captured in two separate trust questions on a 5-point Likert scale and dichotomized into low trusters and non-low trusters for analysis.
Approximately, 61% of the Danish respondents expressed moderately large or very large trust in the government's handling of the pandemic. The corresponding proportion for Sweden was 42%. The proportion of low trusters was 11% in Denmark and 34% in Sweden (p < 0.001). Moderately large or very large trust in the public health authority's handling was expressed by 83% of the Danish respondents and 74% of the Swedish respondents. The proportion of low trusters was 5% in Denmark and 17% in Sweden (p < 0.001). In both countries, trust was lower among men than among women. Age and education were associated with trust but differed between countries (p < = 0.011).
In this study, differences in trust between Denmark and Sweden and both overall and within socio-demographic factors were observed. However, given the limitations and bias in the study, it is difficult to determine the cause and true size of these differences. With that in mind, we still believe specific populations and subgroups within those populations have the potential to affect trust in handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that these should be kept in mind when developing and communicating responses to pandemics.
丹麦和瑞典对新冠疫情的最初反应存在显著差异。平衡不同的关切对于在新冠疫情限制措施方面赢得信任至关重要。目的是调查丹麦和瑞典两国政府及公共卫生当局在应对疫情方面获得信任的程度。另一个目的是调查丹麦和瑞典信任度最低人群的特征。
2021年进行了横断面调查，使用具有全国社会人口特征代表性的网络面板。样本包括来自丹麦的2619人和来自瑞典的2633人，代表了18岁及以上人群的年龄、性别和居住地区。对政府和卫生当局的信任通过两个单独的五分李克特量表信任问题来衡量，并分为低信任者和非低信任者进行分析。
大约61%的丹麦受访者对政府应对疫情的方式表示中度或高度信任。瑞典的相应比例为42%。丹麦低信任者的比例为11%，瑞典为34%（p<0.001）。83%的丹麦受访者和74%的瑞典受访者对公共卫生当局的应对表示中度或高度信任。丹麦低信任者的比例为5%，瑞典为17%（p<0.001）。在两国，男性的信任度均低于女性。年龄和教育程度与信任度相关，但两国情况有所不同（p<=0.011）。
在本研究中，观察到丹麦和瑞典在信任度方面存在差异，且在总体以及社会人口因素方面均有体现。然而，鉴于研究存在的局限性和偏差，难以确定这些差异的原因及真实程度。考虑到这一点，我们仍然认为特定人群以及这些人群中的亚组有可能影响对新冠疫情应对措施的信任度，并且在制定和传达疫情应对措施时应予以考虑。
