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Public perceptions, anxiety, and behaviour change in relation to the swine flu outbreak: cross sectional telephone survey

Objective To assess whether perceptions of the swine flu outbreak predicted changes in behaviour among members of the public in England, Scotland, and Wales. Design Cross sectional telephone survey using random digit dialling. Setting Interviews by telephone between 8 and 12 May. Participants 997 ad...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Rubin, G James, Amlôt, Richard, Page, Lisa, Wessely, Simon
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. 2009
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2714687/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19574308
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b2651
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author Rubin, G James
Amlôt, Richard
Page, Lisa
Wessely, Simon
author_facet Rubin, G James
Amlôt, Richard
Page, Lisa
Wessely, Simon
author_sort Rubin, G James
collection PubMed
description Objective To assess whether perceptions of the swine flu outbreak predicted changes in behaviour among members of the public in England, Scotland, and Wales. Design Cross sectional telephone survey using random digit dialling. Setting Interviews by telephone between 8 and 12 May. Participants 997 adults aged 18 or more who had heard of swine flu and spoke English. Main outcome measures Recommended change in behaviour (increases in handwashing and surface cleaning or plans made with a “flu friend”) and avoidance behaviours (engaged in one or more of six behaviours such as avoiding large crowds or public transport). Results 37.8% of participants (n=377) reported performing any recommended behaviour change “over the past four days . . . because of swine flu.” 4.9% (n=49) had carried out any avoidance behaviour. Controlling for personal details and anxiety, recommended changes were associated with perceptions that swine flu is severe, that the risk of catching it is high risk, that the outbreak will continue for a long time, that the authorities can be trusted, that good information has been provided, that people can control their risk of catching swine flu, and that specific behaviours are effective in reducing the risk. Being uncertain about the outbreak and believing that the outbreak had been exaggerated were associated with a lower likelihood of change. The strongest predictor of behaviour change was ethnicity, with participants from ethnic minority groups being more likely to make recommended changes (odds ratio 3.2, 95% confidence interval 2.0 to 5.3) and carry out avoidance behaviours (4.1, 2.0 to 8.4). Conclusions The results support efforts to inform the public about specific actions that can reduce the risks from swine flu and to communicate about the government’s plans and resources. Tackling the perception that the outbreak has been “over-hyped” may be difficult but worthwhile. Additional research is required into differing reactions to the outbreak among ethnic groups.
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spelling pubmed-27146872009-07-23 Public perceptions, anxiety, and behaviour change in relation to the swine flu outbreak: cross sectional telephone survey Rubin, G James Amlôt, Richard Page, Lisa Wessely, Simon BMJ Research Objective To assess whether perceptions of the swine flu outbreak predicted changes in behaviour among members of the public in England, Scotland, and Wales. Design Cross sectional telephone survey using random digit dialling. Setting Interviews by telephone between 8 and 12 May. Participants 997 adults aged 18 or more who had heard of swine flu and spoke English. Main outcome measures Recommended change in behaviour (increases in handwashing and surface cleaning or plans made with a “flu friend”) and avoidance behaviours (engaged in one or more of six behaviours such as avoiding large crowds or public transport). Results 37.8% of participants (n=377) reported performing any recommended behaviour change “over the past four days . . . because of swine flu.” 4.9% (n=49) had carried out any avoidance behaviour. Controlling for personal details and anxiety, recommended changes were associated with perceptions that swine flu is severe, that the risk of catching it is high risk, that the outbreak will continue for a long time, that the authorities can be trusted, that good information has been provided, that people can control their risk of catching swine flu, and that specific behaviours are effective in reducing the risk. Being uncertain about the outbreak and believing that the outbreak had been exaggerated were associated with a lower likelihood of change. The strongest predictor of behaviour change was ethnicity, with participants from ethnic minority groups being more likely to make recommended changes (odds ratio 3.2, 95% confidence interval 2.0 to 5.3) and carry out avoidance behaviours (4.1, 2.0 to 8.4). Conclusions The results support efforts to inform the public about specific actions that can reduce the risks from swine flu and to communicate about the government’s plans and resources. Tackling the perception that the outbreak has been “over-hyped” may be difficult but worthwhile. Additional research is required into differing reactions to the outbreak among ethnic groups. BMJ Publishing Group Ltd. 2009-07-02 /pmc/articles/PMC2714687/ /pubmed/19574308 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b2651 Text en © Rubin et al 2009 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research
Rubin, G James
Amlôt, Richard
Page, Lisa
Wessely, Simon
Public perceptions, anxiety, and behaviour change in relation to the swine flu outbreak: cross sectional telephone survey
title Public perceptions, anxiety, and behaviour change in relation to the swine flu outbreak: cross sectional telephone survey
title_full Public perceptions, anxiety, and behaviour change in relation to the swine flu outbreak: cross sectional telephone survey
title_fullStr Public perceptions, anxiety, and behaviour change in relation to the swine flu outbreak: cross sectional telephone survey
title_full_unstemmed Public perceptions, anxiety, and behaviour change in relation to the swine flu outbreak: cross sectional telephone survey
title_short Public perceptions, anxiety, and behaviour change in relation to the swine flu outbreak: cross sectional telephone survey
title_sort public perceptions, anxiety, and behaviour change in relation to the swine flu outbreak: cross sectional telephone survey
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2714687/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19574308
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b2651
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