Factors Associated with Community Awareness on COVID-19 in a Developing Country: Implications for Optimal Risk Communication

Abstract

Purpose New COVID-19 variants pose great challenges in protecting the success of vaccination programs. Awareness of community becomes an important component to prevent the spread of COVID-19. This study aims to analyze people’s awareness of COVID-19 and identify the implications for optimal risk communication in Vietnam. Study Methods and Materials A total of 341 individuals participated in an online cross-sectional study. Community awareness on COVID-19 was examined by using a structured questionnaire. Multivariable Tobit regression was used to examine associated factors with community awareness. Results Our results indicated high levels of awareness of local COVID-19 situation, transmission risks, and preventive behavioral practices during the first week of social isolation. Higher awareness of local pandemic situation was associated with female respondents (Coef.: 6.19; 95% CI: 0.51; 11.87) and larger family sizes of above 5 people (Coef.: 9.00; −1.00; 19.00). Respondents between 35–44 years old were shown to be less aware of preventive behavioral practices than other age groups, including the group of participants above 44 years old (Coef.: −0.34; 95% CI: −0.67; −0.02). Lastly, participants who were “fairly satisfied” with information resources had awareness levels of preventive behavioral practices lower than that of “unsatisfied” respondents (Coef.: −0.45; 95% CI: 0.74; −0.16). Conclusion This study offers crucial insights into the pandemic awareness of citizens and risk communication effectiveness during COVID-19 in Vietnam. The study findings shall serve the development of policies and interventions aimed at empowering individuals in the local and global fight against coronavirus.

Knowledge, practices and precaution regarding COVID-19 among the residents of Kolkata city, West Bengal, India

“…This finding is in line with many existing studies. 15,20 Our findings show that education and occupation are positively related to COVID-19 knowledge and practises and resonate with one existing study reporting a positive association between KAP (knowledge, attitude, and practices) and education and another in West Bengal reporting a positive association between education, occupation, knowledge, and practices. 12,21 So, the present study and many previous studies conclude that education and occupation-wise, significant knowledge differences were observed in respect of COVID-19.…”

Role of Mass Media in Raising Awareness During COVID-19 Pandemic: Key Informant Interviews Approach

“…In contrast, another study indicated the Internet is the most common source of health information about COVID-19 for the entire sample, while the least expected source was radio. (11) A study conducted in India about the role of mass media during the pandemic showed most of the respondent uses social media for collecting information; at the same time, many people don't feel positive about the news delivered on television. (12) Many key informants stated that the influence of YouTube, newspapers, magazines, and medical and scientific journals had little to no effect on raising awareness.…”

Building an Earth's crust movement model in the ITRF2020 coordinate system by the Collocation method. A case study in North area, Vietnam

“…During the processing GNSS station location time series, the coordinate components X, Y, and Z are used to model the Earth's crust movement (Bevis et al, 2020). The use of time series in determining the movement of the Earth's crust by continuous GPS was conducted by Le et al (2014). Similarly, the determination of the horizontal movement of the Earth's crust in the Northwest area of Vietnam is also done by GPS period measurement (Nguyen et al, 2013).…”