Abstract
Objective: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, public health experts have faced the challenge of convincing people to change their everyday habits. This study aims to evaluate the impact of trust in medicine on Polish citizens’ adherence to recommended behaviors. Methods: An online survey was conducted on a quota sample of adult Poles (n = 1072) during the second wave of COVID-19. Results: The trust-in-medicine index was created from statements relating to trust in healthcare professionals, vaccines, and medicines. This index showed that 27.1% of respondents expressed low trust, 36.7% expressed moderate trust, and 36.3% expressed high trust. The recommended behavior index was created from nine statements. This index showed that 15.8% of respondents had low adherence, 38.2% had moderate adherence, and 46.0% had high adherence to the healthcare experts’ recommendations. One-way analysis of variance showed that people with a high trust had significantly higher scores on the recommended behavior index when compared to people with a moderate or low trust. Conclusions: This study suggests that those responsible for health policy should put more effort into building trust not only in health professionals, but also in pharmaceutical companies. We also determined the socio-demographic features of people to whom such actions of trust building should be directed.
Highlights
December 2019, when the severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first detected in China, has already become a symbolic month, marking the beginning of immense, rapid changes all around the world
Our research has shown that trust in medicine has an impact on adherence to recommended behaviors
Our study confirms that trust in medicine can have significant importance in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic
Summary
December 2019, when the severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first detected in China, has already become a symbolic month, marking the beginning of immense, rapid changes all around the world. Lockdowns have been ordered in many countries, and new recommendations for pro-health behaviors have been introduced. These recommendations were supported by the voices of healthcare experts in an attempt to persuade the public to comply [6]. Social psychology has demonstrated that authority can have an enormous impact on the behavior of the average person [7,8]. In the field of medicine, the power of authority is extremely visible [7]. This knowledge is difficult for the average person to comprehend; people educated in this field should be trusted by the public.
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