No abstract

With more than 100 million cases and over 2 million deaths globally, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to remain a major threat. Identifying the behavioral factors influencing preventive behaviors for COVID-19 are crucial in devising public health policies to promote essential strategies to combat the pandemic in an efficient manner. The current study was therefore conducted to estimate the prevalence of COVID-19 preventive behaviors and measure their association with behavioral constructs like threat perception, response efficacy, and self-efficacy, as per socio-demographic background. A region-stratified online survey focusing on the constructs of protection motivation theory, for example, threat and coping appraisal for preventive health practices against COVID-19, was carried out among adult users of social media in India. Generalized linear models with cluster-adjusted-robust standard errors were used to analyze the responses and model the preventive practices among the study population. Analysis of a total 2,646 responses revealed that proper perceptions regarding cause, symptoms, and transmission of COVID-19 were prevalent in the majority of the respondents. The majority of the participants reported frequent use of face masks (93.20%), followed by frequent washing of hands with soap and water (84.90%). The majority of the respondents affirmed that, though not frequently but sometimes, they avoid touching the face with unclean hands. Frequently covering mouth with the crook of the elbow while sneezing and coughing, and maintaining physical distance when outside was noted among 74.14 and 83.84%, respectively. The proportion of participants frequently using sanitizers to clean hands and those infrequently practicing the same were comparable. Self-efficacy for preventive practices and threat-appraisal of COVID-19 illness were identified as important determinants of the selected COVID-19 preventive behaviors, independently. The analysis confirmed that practices of the behaviors were mostly synergistic to each other. Current findings highlight that formulation of precise risk communication strategies to improve perceptions regarding threat appraisal and self-efficacy could facilitate desirable practices, which are also effective in the prevention of airborne infections and, hence, may contribute toward broader policy directions. The evidence urges the implementation of precision-driven risk communication and diffusion of these practices to attain behavioral herd immunity.

No abstract

Seven hundred fifty-three students from seven cities of India reported: (a) their perception of what people in general believe, practise and prefer (i.e., operative values); (b) their own allocentric and idiocentric orientations; (c) the extent to which they attached importance to other's (over their own) opinions, desires and interests; and (d) their age, gender, caste, class and urban exposure. The significant mean differences between the seven sub-samples led to identify three clusters of cities, namely the North, the South and the Central. The North and the South presented a contrast—the former manifesting strong orientations to meet unjustifiable and inconvenient social obligations and to cultivate personalised relationships. The Central cluster showed a differentpattern. The items on which the sub-samples did not differ formed a general factor of collectivism consisting of the themes of familialism, hierarchy and relationship orientation. Collectivism was found to be unrelated to the respondents' rating of the importance attached to other's (over one's own) opinions, desires and interests. Femalestudents, and those who were low on caste, class and urban exposure attached greater importance to others' than to one's own desires, opinions and interests. The self-ratings of allocentrism and idiocentrism proved to be unreliable.

The current article is a commentary on the national scenario regarding the migrant workers who are returning back home after a stretched Lock-down. This article do not take into account any individual level data from any individual. This is not a research article comprising of first-hand or secondary data collection. This article infers on the available published evidences. It was not considered necessary for approval by Institutional Ethics Committee.