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Perceived vulnerability to disease, knowledge about COVID-19, and changes in preventive behavior during lockdown in a German convenience sample
The COVID-19 pandemic has called worldwide for strong governmental measures to contain its spread, associated with considerable psychological distress. This study aimed at screening a convenience sample in Germany during lockdown for perceived vulnerability to disease, knowledge about COVID-19, symp...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Springer US
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7906828/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33654348 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01456-6 |
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author | Stangier, Ulrich Kananian, Schahryar Schüller, Johanna |
author_facet | Stangier, Ulrich Kananian, Schahryar Schüller, Johanna |
author_sort | Stangier, Ulrich |
collection | PubMed |
description | The COVID-19 pandemic has called worldwide for strong governmental measures to contain its spread, associated with considerable psychological distress. This study aimed at screening a convenience sample in Germany during lockdown for perceived vulnerability to disease, knowledge about COVID-19, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and behavioral responses. In an online survey, 1358 participants completed the perceived vulnerability to disease scale (PVD), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4), and questionnaires on knowledge about COVID-19 and self-perceived change in behaviors in response to COVID-19. Lower and upper quartiles of the PVD were used to classify individuals into low and high PVD. A confirmatory factor analysis supported three factors representing risk, preventive and adaptive behavior as behavioral responses to COVID-19 lockdown. A structural equation model showed that the score of the knowledge scale significantly predicted the self-reported increase in adaptive and preventive behavior. The score in the PVD-subscale Perceived Infectability predicted a self-reported increase in preventive behavior, whereas the Germ Aversion score predicted a self-reported increase in preventive and a decrease in risk behavior. The score in PHQ-4 predicted a higher score in the perceived infectability and germ aversion subscales, and a self-reported decrease in adaptive behavior. Low-, medium- and high-PVD groups reported distinct patterns of behavior, knowledge, and mental health symptoms. This study shows that perceived vulnerability to disease is closely linked to preventive behaviors and may enhance adaptation to COVID-19 pandemic. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7906828 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Springer US |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-79068282021-02-26 Perceived vulnerability to disease, knowledge about COVID-19, and changes in preventive behavior during lockdown in a German convenience sample Stangier, Ulrich Kananian, Schahryar Schüller, Johanna Curr Psychol Article The COVID-19 pandemic has called worldwide for strong governmental measures to contain its spread, associated with considerable psychological distress. This study aimed at screening a convenience sample in Germany during lockdown for perceived vulnerability to disease, knowledge about COVID-19, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and behavioral responses. In an online survey, 1358 participants completed the perceived vulnerability to disease scale (PVD), the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-4), and questionnaires on knowledge about COVID-19 and self-perceived change in behaviors in response to COVID-19. Lower and upper quartiles of the PVD were used to classify individuals into low and high PVD. A confirmatory factor analysis supported three factors representing risk, preventive and adaptive behavior as behavioral responses to COVID-19 lockdown. A structural equation model showed that the score of the knowledge scale significantly predicted the self-reported increase in adaptive and preventive behavior. The score in the PVD-subscale Perceived Infectability predicted a self-reported increase in preventive behavior, whereas the Germ Aversion score predicted a self-reported increase in preventive and a decrease in risk behavior. The score in PHQ-4 predicted a higher score in the perceived infectability and germ aversion subscales, and a self-reported decrease in adaptive behavior. Low-, medium- and high-PVD groups reported distinct patterns of behavior, knowledge, and mental health symptoms. This study shows that perceived vulnerability to disease is closely linked to preventive behaviors and may enhance adaptation to COVID-19 pandemic. Springer US 2021-02-26 2022 /pmc/articles/PMC7906828/ /pubmed/33654348 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01456-6 Text en © The Author(s) 2021 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
spellingShingle | Article Stangier, Ulrich Kananian, Schahryar Schüller, Johanna Perceived vulnerability to disease, knowledge about COVID-19, and changes in preventive behavior during lockdown in a German convenience sample |
title | Perceived vulnerability to disease, knowledge about COVID-19, and changes in preventive behavior during lockdown in a German convenience sample |
title_full | Perceived vulnerability to disease, knowledge about COVID-19, and changes in preventive behavior during lockdown in a German convenience sample |
title_fullStr | Perceived vulnerability to disease, knowledge about COVID-19, and changes in preventive behavior during lockdown in a German convenience sample |
title_full_unstemmed | Perceived vulnerability to disease, knowledge about COVID-19, and changes in preventive behavior during lockdown in a German convenience sample |
title_short | Perceived vulnerability to disease, knowledge about COVID-19, and changes in preventive behavior during lockdown in a German convenience sample |
title_sort | perceived vulnerability to disease, knowledge about covid-19, and changes in preventive behavior during lockdown in a german convenience sample |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7906828/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33654348 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01456-6 |
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