Behaviours and attitudes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic: insights from a cross-national Facebook survey
| Autor: | Sofia Gil-Clavel, André Grow, Emanuele Del Fava, Francesco Rampazzo, Daniela Perrotta, Emilio Zagheni, Jorge Cimentada |
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| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
020205 medical informatics media_common.quotation_subject Computer applications to medicine. Medical informatics Population Protective factor R858-859.7 Psychological intervention 02 engineering and technology Facebook surveys 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Hygiene Intervention (counseling) Perception Environmental health Human behaviour Pandemic 0202 electrical engineering electronic engineering information engineering 030212 general & internal medicine education media_common education.field_of_study Data collection Social distance COVID-19 Regular Article Confidence interval Computer Science Applications Computational Mathematics Public health policy Modeling and Simulation Preparedness Respondent Psychology Cross national |
| Zdroj: | EPJ Data Science, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 1-13 (2021) Epj Data Science |
| ISSN: | 2193-1127 |
| DOI: | 10.1140/epjds/s13688-021-00270-1 |
| Popis: | Background In the absence of medical treatment and vaccination, individual behaviours are key to curbing the spread of COVID-19. Here we describe efforts to collect attitudinal and behavioural data and disseminate insights to increase situational awareness and inform interventions. Methods We developed a rapid data collection and monitoring system based on a cross-national online survey, the “COVID-19 Health Behavior Survey”. Respondent recruitment occurred via targeted Facebook advertisements in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We investigated how the threat perceptions of COVID-19, the confidence in the preparedness of organisations to deal with the pandemic, and the adoption of preventive and social distancing behaviours are associated with respondents’ demographic characteristics. Results We analysed 71,612 questionnaires collected between March 13-April 19, 2020. We found substantial spatio-temporal heterogeneity across countries at different stages of the pandemic and with different control strategies in place. Respondents rapidly adopted the use of face masks when they were not yet mandatory. We observed a clear pattern in threat perceptions, sharply increasing from a personal level to national and global levels. Although personal threat perceptions were comparatively low, all respondents significantly increased hand hygiene. We found gender-specific patterns: women showed higher threat perceptions, lower confidence in the healthcare system, and were more likely to adopt preventive behaviours. Finally, we also found that older people perceived higher threat to themselves, while all respondents were strongly concerned about their family. Conclusions Rapid population surveys conducted via Facebook allow us to monitor behavioural changes, adoption of protective measures, and compliance with recommended practices. As the pandemic progresses and new waves of infections are a threatening reality, timely insights from behavioural and attitudinal data are crucial to guide the decision-making process. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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