What Drives Resistance to Public Health Measures in Canada's COVID-19 Pandemic? A Rapid Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices

Abstract Background: Globally, concerns have been raised that the priority implementation of public health measures in response to COVID-19 may have unintended negative impacts on a variety of other health and wellbeing factors, including violence. This study examined the impact of COVID-19 response measures on changes in violence against women and children (VAWC) service utilisation across European countries. Methods: A rapid assessment design was used to compile data including: a survey distributed across WHO Europe Healthy Cities Networks and Violence Injury Prevention Focal Points in WHO European Region member states; and, a scoping review of media reports, journal articles and reports. Searches were conducted in English and Russian and covered the period between 1 January 2020 and 17 September 2020. Data extracted included: country; violence type; service sector; and change in service utilisation during COVID-19. All data pertained to the period during which COVID-19 related public health measures were implemented compared to a period before restrictions were in place.Results: Overall, findings suggested that there was a median reported increase in VAWC service utilisation of approximately 20% during the COVID-19 pandemic. Crucially however, change in service utilisation differed across sectors. After categorising each estimate as reflecting an increase or decrease in VAWC service utilisation, there was a significant association between sector and change in service utilisation; the majority of NGO estimates (95.1%) showed an increase in utilisation, compared to 58.2% of law enforcement estimates and 42.9% of health and social care estimates.Conclusions: The variation across sectors in changes in VAWC service utilisation has important implications for policy makers in the event of ongoing and future restrictions related to COVID-19 and more generally during other times of prolonged presence in the home. The increased global attention on VAWC during the pandemic should be used to drive forward the agenda on prevention, increase access to services, and implement better data collection mechanisms to ensure the momentum and increased focus on VAWC during the pandemic is not wasted.

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Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Health Personnel in Responding to the COVID-19 Outbreak in Indonesia

Kesmas National Public Health Journal ◽

10.21109/kesmas.v16i4.5003 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Dyah Suryani ◽

Suyitno Suyitno ◽

Maretalinia Maretalinia ◽

Elvi Juliansyah ◽

Vernonia Yora Saki ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Personnel ◽

Online Survey ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Health Centers ◽

Self Report ◽

Sectional Study ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Attitudes And Practices ◽

Knowledge Attitudes And Practices

The COVID-19 outbreak, which originated in China, has spread to all countries worldwide, including Indonesia. Until July 2021, the growth rate has been gradually increasing, and cases have been found in all 34 provinces of Indonesia. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of health personnel in public health centers towards the COVID-19 outbreak in Indonesia using online self-report questionnaires. A total of 440 respondents contributed to this online survey. The level of average KAP were 7.7 out of 10.0, 14.3 out of 15.0, and 31.9 out of 36.0, respectively. There was no significant association between respondents’ characteristics (sex, marital status, and age) and their KAP, which showed p > 0.05 for all variables. It can be concluded that the level of KAP was good even though the respondents’ characteristics had no association with KAP.

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How Gameful Experience Affects Public Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Regarding COVID-19 Among the Taiwanese Public: Cross-sectional Study (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.26216 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Li-Hsun Peng ◽

Ming-Han Bai

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Creative Thinking ◽

Online Survey ◽

Pathogen Transmission ◽

Simulation Game ◽

Public Knowledge ◽

Public Attention ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Attitudes And Practices ◽

Knowledge Attitudes And Practices

BACKGROUND In 2019, with the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across the globe, public health systems worldwide faced severe challenges. Amid the pandemic, one simulation game, Plague Inc., has received substantial attention. This game has indirectly drawn greater public attention to public health issues by simulating pathogen transmission and disease symptoms. OBJECTIVE Against this backdrop, this research investigates whether the gameful experience of Plague Inc. has indirectly affected public knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) regarding COVID-19. METHODS An online survey was conducted through social networking services in Taiwan from May 6-28, 2020. RESULTS A total of 486 subjects participated in this study, of which 276 (56.8%) had played Plague Inc. This study had several findings. First, participants who had played Plague Inc. demonstrated higher levels of knowledge (P=.03, median 7, IQR 7-8) and attitudes (P=.007, median 8, IQR 7-8) than participants who had not played Plague Inc. (knowledge: median 7, IQR 6-8; attitude: median 7, IQR 6-8). Second, there was a significant correlation between creative thinking (ρ=.127, P=.04) and dominance (ρ=.122, P=.04) in attitude. Finally, there was a significant correlation between creative thinking (ρ=.126, P<.001) and dominance (ρ=.119, P=.049) in practice. CONCLUSIONS Serious games highlighting the theme of pathogen transmission may enhance public knowledge and attitudes regarding COVID-19. Furthermore, the creative thinking and dominance involved in gameful experiences may act as critical factors in public attitudes and practices regarding COVID-19. These findings should be further verified through experimental research in the future.

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