Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic represents a major crisis for governments and populations. The public’s risk perceptions, knowledge, and behaviors are key factors that play a vital role in the transmission of infectious diseases. Our scoping review aims to map the early evidence on risk perceptions, knowledge, and behaviors of general and high-risk adult populations towards COVID-19.Methods: A systematic scoping review was conducted of peer-reviewed articles in five databases on studies conducted during the early stages of COVID-19. Thirty-one studies meeting the inclusion criteria were appraised and analyzed.Results: The levels of risk perceptions, knowledge, and behaviors towards COVID-19 were moderate to high in both general and high-risk adult populations. Adults were knowledgeable about preventive behaviors. Our review identified hand-washing and avoiding crowded places as dominant preventive behaviors. Being a female, older, more educated, and living in urban areas was associated with better knowledge of COVID-19 and appropriate preventive behaviors.Conclusion: This review offers a first understanding of risk perceptions, knowledge and behaviors of adult populations during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic represents a major crisis for governments and populations around the globe. A large number of studies have been conducted worldwide to understand people's awareness and behavioral response towards the disease. The public's risk perceptions, knowledge, and behaviors are key factors that play a vital role in the transmission of infectious diseases. Our scoping review aims to map the early evidence on risk perceptions, knowledge, and behaviors of general and high-risk adult populations towards COVID-19. Methods: A systematic scoping review was conducted of peer-reviewed articles in five databases (MEDLINE-Ovid, EMBASE-Ovid, PsycINFO-Ovid, Web of Science, and CINAHL-EBSCO) on studies conducted during the early stage of COVID-19 (January to June, 2020). The gray literature was also searched through Open Grey, Scopus, Wonder, Social Science Research Network, MedRxiv, and websites of major public health organizations. Twenty studies meeting the inclusion criteria were included, appraised and analyzed. Results: During the early stage of the pandemic, levels of risk perceptions, knowledge, and behaviors towards COVID-19 were moderate to high in both general and high-risk adult populations. The perceived severity of the disease was slightly higher than the perceived susceptibility of getting COVID-19 during the first wave of COVID-19. Adults were knowledgeable about preventive behaviors, including hand-washing, mask-wearing, social distancing, and avoidance behaviors. Nevertheless, an important knowledge gap regarding the asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 was reported in many studies. Our review identified hand-washing and avoiding crowded places as dominant preventive behaviors at the early stage of the pandemic. Staying at home, reducing social contacts, and avoiding public transport were less widespread in general populations than in high-risk adult groups. Being a female, older, and more educated was associated with better knowledge of COVID-19 and appropriate preventive behaviors. Conclusion: This scoping review offers a first understanding of general and high-risk adults' risk perceptions, knowledge, and behaviors towards COVID-19 during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further research should be undertaken to assess psychological and behavioral responses over time. Research gaps have been identified in the relationship between ethnicity and risk perceptions, knowledge, and behaviors towards COVID-19.

Digital technology offers several opportunities to improve access to professional expertise in primary care, and the offer of various “virtual” services has exploded in the past few years. The aim of this study was to evaluate the implementation of a direct-to-consumer on-line pharmacy consultation service (Ask Your Pharmacist - AYP) to a universal phone consultation service led by the universal public health system in Quebec (811 Info-Santé), through a direct bridge. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with clinician users of the service, and stakeholders involved in this pilot project funded by the Ministry of Economy (n = 22); documents were also analyzed, and content of the question was asked through the AYP service. Adoption of the service was low, and it suggests a poor alignment between the need and the service as implemented. Further research should investigate the mechanisms for an appropriate integration of digital services for primary care universal consultation services.

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