Information Usage and Compliance with Preventive Behaviors for COVID-19: A Longitudinal Study with Data from the JACSIS 2020/JASTIS 2021.

Taro Kusama,Noriko Nakazawa,Kenji Takeuchi,Takaaki Ikeda,Anna Kinugawa,Takahiro Tabuchi,Ken Osaka,Sakura Kiuchi

doi:10.3390/healthcare10030521

Taro Kusama, Noriko Nakazawa + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10030521

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Abstract

The influence of different types of information sources on individual preventive behaviors remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the associations between individual information usage to obtain information about COVID-19 and compliance with preventive behaviors. This longitudinal study was based on an Internet survey conducted in August–September 2020 and February 2021. We used compliance with four preventive behaviors for COVID-19, “wearing a mask”, “ventilation”, “social distancing”, and “avoiding crowds” as outcome variables, and 20 types of information sources based on people or institutions (Medical worker, Government, etc.) and media (TV news, Twitter, etc.) as predictors. Absolute differences and 95% confidence intervals were estimated using generalized estimating equations adjusted for possible confounders. Among the 18,151 participants aged 20–79, the mean age was 51.7 (SD = 15.9) in 2020, and 51.3% were male. In total, compliance with “wearing a mask”, “ventilation”, “social distancing”, and “avoiding crowds” was seen in 86.2%, 46.9%, 45.4%, and 62.6% of individuals in 2020, and 89.3%, 38.2%, 47.2%, and 61.6% of individuals in 2021, respectively. In the multivariate analysis, “medical workers”, “professionals”, “the government”, “Twitter”, “news websites”, and “TV news” were positively associated with compliance with two or more preventive behaviors (p < 0.05). The type of information source may play an important role in providing information for COVID-19 prevention.

Highlights

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is an ongoing public health threat [1]
Several studies have shown the associations between social media use and non-compliance with preventive behaviors for COVID-19; only a few studies have investigated the associations between preventive behaviors for COVID-19 and multiple information sources [11–14]
The present study aims to evaluate the association of the use of multiple information sources based on people or institutions and media to obtain the information about COVID-19 prevention with the compliance of four preventive behaviors, including “wearing a mask”, “ventilation”, “social distancing”, and “avoiding crowds” for COVID-19 over a period of two years

Summary

Introduction

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is an ongoing public health threat [1]. Vaccinations have been developed to prevent COVID-19 [2], non-pharmaceutical interventions to prevent infection are still required because of the delayed progression of vaccination uptake and the mutation of the pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 [3]. Previous studies have suggested that exposure to specific information sources, such as the media, government, professionals, and other people, affects individual preventive behaviors such as vaccination uptake and behavioral prevention strategies [7]. Exposure to social media may affect individual knowledge and risk perception for COVID-19 prevention. A previous study among young adults suggested that individual knowledge and risk perception were associated with engagement in preventive behaviors for COVID-19 [10]. Several studies have shown the associations between social media use and non-compliance with preventive behaviors for COVID-19; only a few studies have investigated the associations between preventive behaviors for COVID-19 and multiple information sources [11–14]. Most previous studies were cross-sectional and did not consider longitudinal changes in compliance with preventive behaviors

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