What Are the Characteristics of the Ones That Behave Better to Control the Pandemic?

Abstract

Background: Human behavior is an important determinant of health outcomes. In addition to intrinsic public health challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, in many countries, some individuals decided not to be vaccinated, streets were full of people, and businesses struggling to recover were partially open despite lockdown or "stay at home instructions". These behaviors contrast with the clear benefit of distancing, use of masks, and vaccination to decrease collective and individual risks. Here, we try to understand what are the social and working characteristics in Brazil related to appropriate protective behavior reports. Which conditions are associated with it being easier or more difficult to comply with protective measures?Methods: We selected three common selfcare procedures: mask use, distancing by at least 1 meter when out, washing hands or use of alcohol, combined with assessing the social context of people who reported to comply with all three measures. Using a frequent pattern mining perspective, association rules were generated from a set of answers to questions that co-occur with at list a given frequency identifying the pattern of characteristics of the groups divided according to the protective behavior report.Findings: We identify patterns composed by social and working determinants of the compliance of protective self-care measures.Interpretation: The rationale was to identify a pool of working and social characteristics that might have better adhesion to behaviors and self-care measures. This search might be helpful to identify constraints to fully follow public policies.Funding Information: The present study was partially funded by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) in Brazil.Declaration of Interests: All authors declare no financial or personal relationships with other people or organisations in potential conflict of interest, even if it does not directly relate to the submitted work.Ethics Approval Statement: This online study was approved by the National Commission of Ethics in Research (CONEP) on May 2nd, 2020 (CAAE #: 30823620.6.0000.5149) and complies with the Helsinki Declaration (1989). All participants were informed that the survey would take about 25 minutes to be completed. The consent form was presented in the first page of the online form and only participants who consented to their participation were further enrolled.