Perceived Vulnerability to Disease, Knowledge and Preventive Behavior Related to COVID-19 in Farsi and Arabic Speaking Refugees

AbstractIn the face of the worldwide COVIV-19 pandemic, refugees represent a particularly vulnerable group with respect to access to health care and information regarding preventive behavior. In an online survey the Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Scale, self-reported changes in preventive and risk behaviors, knowledge about COVID-19, and psychopathological symptoms (PHQ-4) were assessed. The convenience sample consisted of n = 76 refugees (n = 45 Arabic speaking, n = 31 Farsi speaking refugees) and n = 76 German controls matched with respect to age and sex. Refugees reported a significantly larger fear of infection, significantly less knowledge about COVID-19, and a higher frequency of maladaptive behavior, as compared to the control group. This study shows that refugees are more vulnerable to fear of infection and maladaptive behaviors than controls. Culturally adapted, easily accessible education about COVID-19 may be beneficial in improving knowledge and preventive behaviors related to COVID-19.

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Perceived vulnerability to disease, knowledge about COVID-19, and changes in preventive behavior during lockdown in a German convenience sample

Current Psychology ◽

10.1007/s12144-021-01456-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ulrich Stangier ◽

Schahryar Kananian ◽

Johanna Schüller

Keyword(s):

Adaptive Behavior ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Online Survey ◽

Behavioral Responses ◽

Equation Model ◽

Preventive Behavior ◽

Convenience Sample ◽

Perceived Vulnerability ◽

Disease Knowledge ◽

Perceived Vulnerability To Disease

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has called worldwide for strong governmental measures to contain its spread, associated with considerable psychological distress. This study aimed at screening a convenience sample in Germany during lockdown for perceived vulnerability to disease, knowledge about COVID-19, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and behavioral responses. In an online survey, 1358 participants completed the perceived vulnerability to disease scale (PVD), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4), and questionnaires on knowledge about COVID-19 and self-perceived change in behaviors in response to COVID-19. Lower and upper quartiles of the PVD were used to classify individuals into low and high PVD. A confirmatory factor analysis supported three factors representing risk, preventive and adaptive behavior as behavioral responses to COVID-19 lockdown. A structural equation model showed that the score of the knowledge scale significantly predicted the self-reported increase in adaptive and preventive behavior. The score in the PVD-subscale Perceived Infectability predicted a self-reported increase in preventive behavior, whereas the Germ Aversion score predicted a self-reported increase in preventive and a decrease in risk behavior. The score in PHQ-4 predicted a higher score in the perceived infectability and germ aversion subscales, and a self-reported decrease in adaptive behavior. Low-, medium- and high-PVD groups reported distinct patterns of behavior, knowledge, and mental health symptoms. This study shows that perceived vulnerability to disease is closely linked to preventive behaviors and may enhance adaptation to COVID-19 pandemic.

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A dataset for the perceived vulnerability to disease scale in Japan before the spread of COVID-19

F1000Research ◽

10.12688/f1000research.23713.1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

pp. 334

Author(s):

Yuki Yamada ◽

Haoqin Xu ◽

Kyoshiro Sasaki

Keyword(s):

Online Survey ◽

Baseline Data ◽

Perceived Vulnerability ◽

Perceived Vulnerability To Disease ◽

Psychological Studies

The COVID-19 outbreak is a worldwide medical and epidemiological catastrophe, and the number of psychological studies concerning COVID-19 is growing daily. Such studies need baseline data from before the COVID-19 outbreak for comparison, but such datasets have not yet been accumulated and shared. Here, we provide a dataset on the perceived vulnerability to disease scale for 1382 Japanese participants obtained through an online survey conducted in 2018 that will be useful for comparison with current or post-COVID-19 perceived vulnerability to disease data.

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Row-by-Column, Plexiglass & Zoom, Oh My! A K-12 COVID-19 Storm / A Pilot

Journal of Education and Learning ◽

10.5539/jel.v10n2p9 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 9

Author(s):

Lennie Scott-Webber

Keyword(s):

Online Learning ◽

North America ◽

Online Survey ◽

Just In Time ◽

Control Group ◽

Computer Access ◽

Convenience Sample ◽

Equity Issues ◽

Time Space ◽

K 12

We are 21 years into the 21st century, and educational practices across North America were woefully unprepared to ‘flip the switch’ to online learning; at times no education occurred at all, not online or onsite. The COVID-19 pandemic disruptor storm peeled off the layers of blindfolds time accrued in an instant. Issues included three areas. Area one—unpreparedness: digital illiteracy relative to online learning and corresponding teaching models, equity issues pertaining to internet access and computer access, platforms that varied and were unreliable. Area two—inconsistent: (if any) guidelines on how to teach onsite, or those from a disease control group dictating a six-foot distancing, masks, plexiglass, and row-by-column with eyes facing forward (back to a 19th century teaching didactic model), and smaller class sizes. Area three-time/space continuum: the combining of online and onsite, teaching loads, and maintenance. This ‘alpha’ research study tried to capture a historic moment in time. A Human-centered Research Design (HcRD) protocol with three techniques to mitigate bias was used: (1) online survey, (2) focused interviews, and (3) crowd-sourced photographic content across two countries—USA and Canada as a convenience sample. The findings will reveal a ‘just-in-time’ snap shot of the tactics used pre- and current-, as well as ideas for post-pandemic—this research’s differentiator. The storm of COVID-19 played unprecedented havoc on schools across North America, but there are important learnings and these, along with some insights will be shared.

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Nursing Students' Perceptions, Knowledge, and Preventive Behaviors Toward COVID-19: A Multi-University Study

Frontiers in Public Health ◽

10.3389/fpubh.2020.573390 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Hamdan Mohammad Albaqawi ◽

Nahed Alquwez ◽

Ejercito Balay-odao ◽

Junel Bryan Bajet ◽

Hawa Alabdulaziz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Nursing Education ◽

Nursing Students ◽

Online Survey ◽

Student Nurses ◽

Educational Interventions ◽

Average Score ◽

Preventive Behavior ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Convenience Sample ◽

The Government

Background: Knowledge, perception, and preventive behavior should be considered in the planning of effective educational interventions for the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and in increasing awareness about the health risks brought about by this disease. This research aimed to assess knowledge, perceptions, and preventive behavior toward the COVID-19 infection among student nurses.Methods: The study has quantitative, descriptive, and cross-sectional design. A convenience sample of 1,226 student nurses from seven universities in Saudi Arabia was surveyed from March 22 to April 4, 2020. A four-part online survey on demographic characteristics, perceptions, knowledge, and preventive behavior of Saudi student nurses was carried out.Results: Nearly all students were aware of the outbreak (99.2%), and most of them received information on COVID-19 primarily from social media (71.0%). Over three-fourths of the students were confident that the government (89.1%) and Ministry of Health (MOH) (86.5%) were doing a good job responding to the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. The overall average score in the knowledge questionnaire was 9.85 (SD = 1.62, range = 0–12), which is equivalent to 82.1%. The majority of the students always performed most of the preventive behavior identified in the survey, except “washing hands with soap and water for at least 20 s after blowing my nose, coughing, or sneezing” (39.2%) and “daily cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched surfaces” (41.6%). Being female, being in the fourth year, and gaining good perceived knowledge were associated with high actual COVID-19 knowledge. University, gender, age, academic level, and perceived COVID-19 knowledge were the associated factors.Conclusions: The findings of this study have provided baseline information on the current state of Saudi nursing students' perceptions, knowledge, and preventive behavior toward COVID-19 as the crisis is happening. The findings revealed some areas that should be focused on by nursing education, as well as health agencies, to ensure that the students have adequate knowledge and correct preventive behavior.

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A dataset for the perceived vulnerability to disease scale in Japan before the spread of COVID-19

F1000Research ◽

10.12688/f1000research.23713.2 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

pp. 334

Author(s):

Yuki Yamada ◽

Haoqin Xu ◽

Kyoshiro Sasaki

Keyword(s):

Online Survey ◽

Baseline Data ◽

Perceived Vulnerability ◽

Perceived Vulnerability To Disease ◽

Psychological Studies

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Better once it's over, worse now: Prospective moral behaviors after the coronavirus epidemic and cyberchondria

Psihologija ◽

10.2298/psi200603033m ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 33-33

Author(s):

Alexandra Maftei ◽

Andrei Holman

Keyword(s):

Online Survey ◽

Moral Identity ◽

Health Anxiety ◽

Experimental Manipulation ◽

Control Group ◽

Convenience Sample ◽

Negative Behaviors ◽

Positive Behaviors ◽

The Impact ◽

Experimental Group

The COVID-19 crisis might generate effects in what regards people's propensity to engage in moral and immoral actions, both during and after the pandemic. We used an experimental manipulation to explore the impact of the current lockdown on anticipated behaviors and its association with cyberchondria and moral identity. A convenience sample of 865 participants completed an online survey in which they were asked to rate the probability of engaging in certain morally positive and negative behaviors over the next week. The experimental group was required to imagine that the pandemic would be over by then, and all restrictions would be lifted, while the control groups did not receive this instruction. Participants' moral identity and cyberchondria were also measured. Results showed that participants in the experimental condition expressed higher intentions to perform positive behaviors and lower intentions to engage in negative actions. Furthermore, cyberchondria was positively associated both to intended negative behaviors in the control group, i.e., during the lockdown and to positive behaviors in the experimental group, i.e., after the lockdown. We discuss these results in relation to prospective moral licensing and cleansing, and to the role of health anxiety in shaping moral decisions.

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655 The Role of Insomnia Symptoms in the Relation between Perceived Vulnerability to Disease and COVID-19 Anxiety

SLEEP ◽

10.1093/sleep/zsab072.653 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 44 (Supplement_2) ◽

pp. A256-A256

Author(s):

Rebecca Campbell ◽

Jamie Walker ◽

Anastasia Makhanova ◽

Ivan Vargas

Keyword(s):

Online Survey ◽

Pathogen Transmission ◽

Mediation Effects ◽

Perceived Vulnerability ◽

Mediation Analyses ◽

Bootstrap Estimation ◽

Disorder Symptom ◽

Perceived Vulnerability To Disease ◽

The Impact ◽

Insomnia Symptoms

Abstract Introduction Individuals who report greater perceived vulnerability to disease (e.g., experience emotional discomfort to situations where pathogen transmission is likely) also have the tendency to endorse more anxiety. Insomnia is also associated with greater anxiety. This study assessed (1) whether perceived vulnerability to disease was associated with increased anxiety related to COVID-19 and (2) whether this association was moderated or mediated by insomnia symptoms. Methods 1199 primarily female (n = 845), white (n = 982) participants (mage = 30.52) completed an online survey including the Sleep Disorder Symptom Checklist- 25 (SDS-CL-25), Perceived Vulnerability to Disease (PVD) scale, and a rating of COVID-19 anxiety (scale = 0–100; m = 55.81, sd = 25.39). Insomnia symptoms were calculated using the sum of SDS-CL-25 items 3–6 (m = 7.55, sd = 3.58). The PVD subscales germ aversion (GA; m = 4.18, sd = 1.22) and perceived vulnerability to infection (PVI; m = 3.69, sd = 1.39) were also computed. Results Regressions were used to test if insomnia mediated the impact of GA and PVI on COVID-19 anxiety. The relations between COVID-19 anxiety and insomnia (b = 1.30, t(1197) = 6.47), GA (b =3.60, t(1197) = 6.09), and PVI (b =3.73, t(1197) = 7.20) were significant (p’s < .001). Mediation analyses using the mediation package in R (bootstrap estimation = 1000 samples) showed direct effects of GA (b = 3.26, 95% CI = 2.04 – 4.42, p < .001) and PVI (b = 3.16, 95% CI = 2.00 – 4.22, p < .001) and mediation effects of insomnia (b =.44, 95% CI = .19 - .73, p < .001; b =.58, 95% CI = .33 - .86, p < .001, respectively). According to the moderation analyses, the association between PVD and COVID-19 anxiety did not significantly vary at different levels of insomnia. Conclusion Results suggest insomnia symptoms partially mediate the relationship between perceived vulnerability to disease and COVID-19 anxiety. These associations are likely bidirectional, and therefore, more work in this area is needed, especially with regard to how improved sleep may attenuate risk factors for anxiety. Support (if any) K23HL141581 (PI: Vargas)

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When Death Is Compelling

Social Psychology ◽

10.1027/1864-9335/a000252 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 46 (6) ◽

pp. 352-360 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Simon Schindler ◽

Marc-André Reinhard

Keyword(s):

Terror Management Theory ◽

Mortality Salience ◽

Terror Management ◽

Management Theory ◽

Control Group ◽

Norms And Values ◽

Hypothetical Scenario ◽

The Face ◽

Scenario Study ◽

Norm Of Reciprocity

Abstract. Research on terror management theory has found evidence that people under mortality salience strive to live up to activated social norms and values. Recently, research has shown that mortality salience also increases adherence to the norm of reciprocity. Based on this, in the current paper we investigated the idea that mortality salience influences persuasion strategies that are based on the norm of reciprocity. We therefore assume that mortality salience should enhance compliance for a request when using the door-in-the-face technique – a persuasion strategy grounded in the norm of reciprocity. In a hypothetical scenario (Study 1), and in a field experiment (Study 2), applying the door-in-the-face technique enhanced compliance in the mortality salience condition compared to a control group.

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Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Questionnaire--Spanish Version

PsycTESTS Dataset ◽

10.1037/t75923-000 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Amelia Díaz ◽

José F. Soriano ◽

Angela Beleña

Keyword(s):

Spanish Version ◽

Perceived Vulnerability ◽

Perceived Vulnerability To Disease ◽

Disease Questionnaire

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Are public health measures and individualised care compatible in the face of a pandemic? A national observational study of bereaved relatives’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

Palliative Medicine ◽

10.1177/02692163211019885 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 026921632110198

Author(s):

Catriona R Mayland ◽

Rosemary Hughes ◽

Steven Lane ◽

Tamsin McGlinchey ◽

Warren Donnellan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Family Support ◽

Online Survey ◽

Free Text ◽

Professional Networks ◽

Dying Patients ◽

The Face ◽

Individualised Care ◽

The Impact ◽

Informative Communication

Background: COVID-19 public health restrictions have affected end-of-life care experiences for dying patients and their families. Aim: To explore bereaved relatives’ experiences of quality of care and family support provided during the last days of life; to identify the impact of factors associated with perceived support. Design: A national, observational, open online survey was developed and disseminated via social media, public fora and professional networks (June–September 2020). Validated instruments and purposively designed questions assessed experiences. Analysis used descriptive statistics, logistic regression and thematic analysis of free-text responses. Participants: Individuals (⩾18 years) who had experienced the death of a relative/friend (all care settings) within the United Kingdome during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Respondents ( n = 278, mean 53.4 years) tended to be female ( n = 216, 78%); over half were ‘son/daughter’ (174, 62.6%) to the deceased. Deceased individuals (mean 81.6 years) most frequently died in their ‘usual place of care’ ( n = 192, 69.3%). Analysis established five conceptual themes affecting individualised care: (1) public health restrictions compounding the distress of ‘not knowing’; (2) disparate views about support from doctors and nurses; (3) challenges in communication and level of preparedness for the death; (4) delivery of compassionate care; (5) emotional needs and potential impact on grief. Male respondents (OR 2.9, p = 0.03) and those able to visit (OR 2.2, p = 0.04) were independently associated with good perceptions of family support. Conclusion: Despite public health restrictions, individualised care can be enabled by proactive, informative communication; recognising dying in a timely manner and facilitating the ability to be present before death.

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