Abstract
Introduction: In this study, we investigated the sources of information that have had the highest impact on Kosovans’ compliance with preventive measures against COVID-19. Methods: We recruited 744 participants, aged 18-35, to participate in this cross-sectional survey between 27th April and 5th May 2020, utilising an online questionnaire. Results: Our findings show that public health experts had the greatest influence in persuading citizens to obey the recommendations, with 63.2% (470) compliance, followed by family members, with 18% (134), and health workers, with 10.2% (76). Conclusion: Our study has shown that public health experts have had the greatest impact on Kosovo citizens, persuading them to follow recommendations designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Highlights
In this study, we investigated the sources of information that have had the highest impact on Kosovans’ compliance with preventive measures against COVID-19
Public health experts had the greatest influence in persuading citizens to obey the recommendations, with 63.2% compliance (n=470), followed by family members with 18.0% (n=134), and health workers with 10.2% (n=76). 629 (84.7%) participants said they mostly/completely followed the recommendation to stay at home, and 532 (71.5%) said they maintained social distancing of at least two metres
Those in the 25-35 age group indicated that they were less likely to comply with the recommendation to stay at home, and considered the Ministry of Health (MoH) and NIPH promotion campaigns to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to be less effective, compared to the 18-19 and 20-24 age groups (Table 1)
Summary
We investigated the sources of information that have had the highest impact on Kosovans’ compliance with preventive measures against COVID-19. Governments have implemented different interventions to isolate and prevent the spread of the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Since herd immunity against the SARS-CoV-2 virus has yet to be achieved, a key element of efforts by health authorities to keep the situation under control and to avoid further spread is to increase health literacy and promote the safe behaviour of. The MoH, based on the recommendation of the National Institute of Public Health of Kosovo(NIPH), closed all educational institutions before the first positive case of COVID-19 was registered [3]. In addition to its health education and promotion campaign, between 14 April and 4 May 2020, the MoH placed municipalities with high case numbers under quarantine, and limited the outdoor movement of people within municipalities to a total of 90 minutes a day for essential reasons, on a rota system based on personal identification numbers [4].
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