Ebola Risk Perception in Germany, 2014

Rübsamen, Nicole; Castell, Stefanie; Horn, Johannes; Karch, André; Ott, Jördis J; Raupach-Rosin, Heike; Zoch, Beate; Krause, Gérard; Mikolajczyk, Rafael

doi:10.3201/eid2106.150013

Cited by 55 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…There are other studies, which investigated Ebola risk perceptions, Ebola knowledge and the prevention of the Ebola virus during the last Ebola outbreak in West Africa [22–26]. However, the populations of these studies were objectively at lower risk of contracting Ebola than the population assessed in this study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

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Contextual and psychosocial factors predicting Ebola prevention behaviours using the RANAS approach to behaviour change in Guinea-Bissau

et al. 2017

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BackgroundThe outbreak of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa in December 2013 was the largest Ebola outbreak in history. This study aimed to measure the underlying contextual and psychosocial factors of intentions to perform Ebola prevention behaviours (not touching people who might be suffering from Ebola, reporting suspected cases to the National Ebola Hotline, NEH) in Guinea-Bissau. Geographical location, cross-border market activities, poor water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) conditions, and burial practices in some communities pose a serious risk in terms of potential EVD outbreak and seriously hamper its prevention in Guinea-Bissau.MethodsIn July and August 2015, quantitative data from 1369 respondents were gathered by structured face-to-face interviews. The questionnaire was based on the psychosocial factors of the RANAS (risks, attitudes, norms, abilities, and self-regulation) model. Data were analyzed by multiple linear regression analyses.ResultsThe most important predictors for the intention to call the NEH were believing that calling the Hotline would help the infected person, perceiving that important members from the household approve of calling the Hotline, thinking that calling the Hotline is something they should do, and believing that it is important to call the Hotline to report a suspected case. For the intention not to touch someone who might be suffering from Ebola, the most important predictors were health knowledge, the perception of risk with regard to touching a person who might be suffering from Ebola, and the belief that they were able not to touch a possibly infected person. Age in years was the only significant contextual predictor for one of the two behavioural intentions, the intention to call the Hotline. It seems that younger people are more likely to use a service like the NEH than older people.ConclusionsStrengths and gaps were identified in the study population in relation to the intention to perform prevention behaviours. These call for innovative ways of aligning existing hygiene programs with relevant psychosocial factors. This research is relevant to further outbreaks of contagious diseases as it sheds light on important aspects of the impact of public health interventions during emergencies and epidemics.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…A study about Ebola risk perceptions in Germany [22] also found that most of their study participants would change their behaviour in order to prevent an outbreak of the Ebola virus. The majority of the respondents in this study has access to a mobile phone in their household.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contextual and psychosocial factors predicting Ebola prevention behaviours using the RANAS approach to behaviour change in Guinea-Bissau

et al. 2017

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“…6 Similar results were reported from studies in Germany as well as others from Liberia and Sierra Leone. 18,20,22 A majority also thought that the disease is airborne, the same misconception was also the case among other respondents in Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Germany. 15,18,22 This shows that a further understanding of the difference between air borne and aerosol transmission is needed as although they may be similar to the layman, it is necessary for HCW to correctly identify this.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…18,20,22 A majority also thought that the disease is airborne, the same misconception was also the case among other respondents in Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Germany. 15,18,22 This shows that a further understanding of the difference between air borne and aerosol transmission is needed as although they may be similar to the layman, it is necessary for HCW to correctly identify this. 7 Fever and bleeding were popular signs and symptoms among respondents, this correlates with a study in Nigeria.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…26 A majority of respondents in Germany were of the opinion that vaccination against Ebola virus should be mandatory for residents in endemic countries. 22 The Ebola virus remains in the blood and secretions of survivors for as long as 91 days therefore activities such as breast feeding and sexual intercourse should be preferably avoided during this period. 7 Knowledge of this was rather poor in this study, as only a minority of our respondents would discourage survivors from these activities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Predictors of knowledge regarding Ebola virus disease among medical and nursing students in a Nigerian teaching hospital

Balami

Suriani

Saliluddin

et al. 2016

Int J Community Med Public Health

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Public Perception of the Risks Associated with Infectious Diseases in Poland: Ebola and Influenza and Their Impact on the Attitude to Vaccination

Kuchar

Ludwikowska

Marciniak

et al. 2017

Respiratory System Diseases

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While the Ebola outbreak in 2014 was strongly highlighted in mainstream media and perceived as a threat to public health in Poland, influenza was regarded as a triviality and the vaccination coverage was low. In the present study, by analyzing feedback from an on-line questionnaire (from November 2014 to January 2015) we assessed the knowledge concerning Ebola and influenza together with attitudes to immunization of 544 respondents (45% medical staff). The findings were that 92.6% of respondents declared readiness to vaccination before traveling to endemic regions if a vaccine against Ebola would have existed, but adverse reactions, high costs, and low effectiveness would adversely affect that decision. While 84.2% of respondents declared awareness of influenza attributing significantly to the cause of death, only 65.4% considered influenza as an actual danger for people in Poland and 46.7% thought that Poland was not an endemic region for influenza. Nearly 23% declared that they were already vaccinated against influenza. The majority of respondents (67.5%) were not going to be vaccinated. We conclude that awareness of risk related to infectious diseases is an important determinant when deciding whether to vaccinate. However, negative information about the vaccine has some bearing on the decision to get vaccinated.

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Ebola Risk Perception in Germany, 2014

Abstract: Knowledge about actual risks was poor, creating the potential for inappropriate behavior changes.

Cited by 55 publications

References 17 publications

Contextual and psychosocial factors predicting Ebola prevention behaviours using the RANAS approach to behaviour change in Guinea-Bissau

Contextual and psychosocial factors predicting Ebola prevention behaviours using the RANAS approach to behaviour change in Guinea-Bissau

Predictors of knowledge regarding Ebola virus disease among medical and nursing students in a Nigerian teaching hospital

Public Perception of the Risks Associated with Infectious Diseases in Poland: Ebola and Influenza and Their Impact on the Attitude to Vaccination

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