Assessing the Geographic Context of Risk Perception and Behavioral Response to Potential Ebola Exposure

Autor: Anthony Vander Horst, Gregory O. Gibson, Jacqueline W. Curtis, Virginia Little, Andrew Curtis, Christopher J. Woolverton, Eric Shook
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Adult
Male
Health Knowledge
Attitudes
Practice
Universities
Health
Toxicology and Mutagenesis
lcsh:Medicine
050109 social psychology
Context (language use)
Disease
medicine.disease_cause
Risk Assessment
Article
Disease Outbreaks
Young Adult
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Residence Characteristics
Risk Factors
Intervention (counseling)
Environmental health
medicine
Humans
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
030212 general & internal medicine
ebola virus disease
Epidemics
Students
Temporal scales
Ohio
Ebola virus
lcsh:R
05 social sciences
Administrative Personnel
Public Health
Environmental and Occupational Health
risk reduction behavior
Outbreak
Hemorrhagic Fever
Ebola
Faculty
3. Good health
Risk perception
Geography
Behavioral response
Research Design
Female
Self Report
Zdroj: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Volume 16
Issue 5
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol 16, Iss 5, p 831 (2019)
ISSN: 1660-4601
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16050831
Popis: The 2014&ndash
2016 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic outbreak reached over 28,000 cases and totaled over 11,000 deaths with 4 confirmed cases in the United States, which sparked widespread public concern about nationwide spread of EVD. Concern was elevated in locations connected to the infected people, which included Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. This threat of exposure enabled a unique opportunity to assess self-reported knowledge about EVD, risk perception, and behavior response to EVD. Unlike existing studies, which often survey one point in time across geographically coarse scales, this work offers insights into the geographic context of risk perception and behavior at finer-grained spatial and temporal scales. We report results from 3138 respondents comprised of faculty, staff, and students at two time periods. Results reveal increased EVD knowledge, decreased risk perception, and reduction in protective actions during this time. Faculty had the lowest perceived risk, followed by staff and then students, suggesting the role of education in this outcome. However, the most impactful result is the proof-of-concept for this study design to be deployed in the midst of a disease outbreak. Such geographically targeted and temporally dynamic surveys distributed during an outbreak can show where and when risk perception and behaviors change, which can provide policy-makers with rapid results that can shape intervention practices.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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