Longitudinal Assessment of Community Psychobehavioral Responses During and After the 2003 Outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in Hong Kong

Abstract

Our findings can assist in modifying public service announcements in the future, which should be tailored to psychobehavioral surveillance intelligence to achieve the desired behavioral outcomes. Future research should explore the use of more-sophisticated techniques, including structural equation modeling and game-theoretical frameworks, to analyze population psychology and behavior, and it should integrate such findings with transmission dynamics modeling.

The impact of communications about swine flu (influenza A H1N1v) on public responses to the outbreak: results from 36 national telephone surveys in the UK.

“…One explanation for this discrepancy between our findings concerning the role of receiving information about the outbreak and those of previous studies 9,19,60,67 is that information may have a different effect on vaccine intentions depending on the stage of the outbreak. While the spread of information during the study period had no impact on likely vaccine uptake, stronger associations might have been observed earlier in the swine flu outbreak when members of the public were less certain about the transmission or nature of the illness.…”

“…21 Several studies have suggested that media reporting about features of an outbreak, such as the number of cases or deaths, might influence key health behaviours. 9,19,60,67 However, we found no evidence to suggest that how much people had heard about swine flu in the past week affected likely vaccine uptake or that specific aspects of what they had heard had any substantial impact. The only exception was a weak association between having heard that the number of deaths from swine flu had increased recently and greater likelihood of accepting the swine flu vaccine.…”

“…Similar associations between emotional and behavioural responses to an infectious disease outbreak have been observed before. 35,60,63 Focusing on the more worrying aspects of catching flu, be they financial, social or health, may be one way of increasing vaccination rates. However, it should be noted that this will depend on the baseline level of worry in any population and that there are individual differences, so that increasing worry may have negative consequences for some members of the population.…”

“…For example, research conducted during the SARS outbreak of 2003 suggested that changes in media reporting relating to the incidence, prevalence and location of cases had an effect on levels of anxiety and other health-related behaviours. 9,19,60 Although the impact of mass media campaigns on vaccine uptake has previously been documented, 20,61 few studies have assessed whether the way in which an infectious disease outbreak is reported or perceived affects desire for vaccination. 21 In this study, we analysed data from the telephone surveys commissioned by the Department of Health, England to identify variables associated with the 2009 swine flu outbreak that might encourage people to receive vaccination.…”

Health-care providers’ preparedness for H1N1/09 influenza prevention and treatment in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

“…Results from a similar study conducted in India showed that about half of 791 respondents in the general community believed that H1N1/09 was caused by pigs [13]. Since it is known that public perception or beliefs about an outbreak is influenced by advice and directives by officials and health-care providers [14], it is most likely that the Tanzanian public had not received correct information and advice during the outbreak of H1N1/09 influenza in the country.…”