Adoption of preventive behaviors in response to the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic: a multiethnic perspective

Abstract

BackgroundAs public health leaders prepare for possible future influenza pandemics, the rapid spread of 2009 H1N1 influenza highlights the need to focus on measures the public can adopt to help slow disease transmission. Such measures may relate to hygiene (e.g., hand washing), social distancing (e.g., avoiding places where many people gather), and pharmaceutical interventions (e.g., vaccination). Given the disproportionate impact of public health emergencies on minority communities in the United States, it is important to understand whether there are differences in acceptance across racial/ethnic groups that could lead to targeted and more effective policies and communications.ObjectivesThis study explores racial/ethnic differences in the adoption of preventive behaviors during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic.Patients/MethodsData are from a national telephone poll conducted March 17 to April 11, 2010, among a representative sample of 1123 white, 330 African American, 317 Hispanic, 268 Asian, and 262 American Indian/Alaska Native adults in the USA.ResultsPeople in at least one racial/ethnic minority group were more likely than whites to adopt several behaviors related to hygiene, social distancing, and healthcare access, including increased hand washing and talking with a healthcare provider (P-values <0·05). Exceptions included avoiding others with influenza-like illnesses and receiving 2009 H1N1 and seasonal influenza vaccinations. After we controlled the data for socioeconomic status, demographic factors, healthcare access, and illness- and vaccine-related attitudes, nearly all racial/ethnic differences in behaviors persisted.ConclusionsMinority groups appear to be receptive to several preventive behaviors, but barriers to vaccination are more pervasive.

Knowledge, Socio-cognitive Perceptions and the Practice of Hand Hygiene and Social Distancing During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-sectional Study of UK University Students

“…Self-e cacy [27,53], trust [27,30,52], attitude or advantages [53,67], and gender [27,64,67,68] have all been reported previously as determinants of avoidance or social distancing behaviour. In other studies, aspects of risk perception [23,24,51,61], perceived effectiveness of avoidance behaviours [28,30,52,69] and ethnicity [28,65] have been shown as determinants for this behaviour, in contrast to this study. While for perceived effectiveness of measures, the difference may have been due to wording of question as a knowledge question, as described for hand hygiene behaviours, it is not known why risk perception and ethnicity were not signi cant in this study.…”

“…Participants with higher risk perception, as identi ed in a broader sense by other university student surveys in previous pandemics [21][22][23], or the general population in the COVID-19 pandemic [52,61,62], were also more likely to perform hygiene behaviours in the current study. Those of non-white ethnicities were also found to have greater likelihood of carrying out hygiene behaviours in this study, as was found in general population surveys in other studies or previous pandemics [28,[63][64][65].…”

“…Gender has been found as a hygiene determinant in many surveys, with students [22,49], or general populations [28,[63][64][65][66], but in the current study, the association was weaker than the other four determinants and did not reach signi cance, although was signi cant both in univariate association and in the initial model. It is possible that the in uence of gender was manifest primarily through other determinants such as habit and time factors.…”

The knowledge, attitudes and practices on influenza among medical college students in Northwest China

“…5 A previous study in the US revealed variations between ethnic groups in adoption of preventive behaviors of influenza. 6 To assess medical college students' KAP toward influenza in a low-income multiethnic setting we conducted this study.…”

Florida child care center directors’ intention to implement oral health promotion practices in licensed child care centers

“…It is unclear, why CCCDs who identified as racial minorities were more willing to implement OHPPs within the next year, compared to Whites. The literature shows contradictory findings regarding racial/ethnic minorities adopting preventive behaviors compared to Whites [ 15 – 17 ]. Evidence shows that child care staffs with a formal college education or above provide more sensitive and appropriate care to children with asthma [ 18 ].…”