Coronavirus transmission mitigation behaviors: The first-line intervention against COVID-19

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The spread of COVID-19 across the globe develops psychological disturbance to the population. People are always trying to protect themselves from this pandemic through transmission mitigation behavioral (TMBs) practices. The understanding and practice of the exemplary coronavirus TMBs will help the population to fight the disease effectively and efficiently. This study draws the exemplary coronavirus TMBs among the Indian population and constructs a viable model to study these behaviors.METHODS: Data collected from 238 valid respondents through online were the sample of this study. TMB items were collected from the publications of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, and World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe. AMOS, SPSS, and Microsoft Excel were used for statistical calculations. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Bartlett's Test of sphericity and Keiser–Meyer Olkin (KMO) test, Cronbach's alpha, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Average Variance Extracted (AVE), and composite reliability (CR) were calculated for the analysis of data.RESULTS, INTERPRETATION, AND CONCLUSIONS: Based on the existing literature, three out of 14 TMB items was dropped, and CFA was run for the remaining 11 items. The result of CFA identified a 5-component structure. Bartlett's test of sphericity was significant at P < 0.001, and KMO measure was acceptable at 0.83. The model fit indices (λ2/df = 1.43, goodness of fit index = 0.953, adjusted goodness of fit index = 0.925, normed fit index = 0.914, Tucker-Lewis Index = 0.962, comparative fit index = 0.972, and root mean square error of approximation = 0.043) and convergent validity (AVE = 0.41 and CR = 0.88) were acceptable. Based on the statistical results, the hypothesized model is fit to examine the 11 TMB items. The 3-factor model with 11 TMB items can be adopted for further replication study, and effective practice of these items is the first-line intervention to fight the spread of coronavirus.