Health Perceptions of Korean and Japanese Adolescents During the Prolonged COVID-19 Pandemic: An Importance Performance Analysis

Abstract

Background: This study compares and analyzes the importance and performance of Korean and Japanese adolescents' health awareness in the long COVID-19 pandemic situation. Methods: A frequency analysis was conducted on data collected from 1341 Korean and Japanese adolescents in September 2021 through online and offline surveys to confirm their characteristics (reliability was verified through Cronbach's α). A paired sample test was conducted to analyze health awareness differences and performance of each variable between Korean and Japanese middle-school students and between male and female participants, substantiated by importance-performance analysis (IPA). Results: First, Korean adolescents perceived importance for all factors of health perception greater as compared to their Japanese counterparts. Second, performance differences between Korean and Japanese adolescents were especially significant in hygiene management, disease management and physical activity. Third, in Quadrant 4 of the IPA matrix, there were similarities and differences in a particular factor of health perception between Korean and Japanese adolescents. On this basis, we proposed measures emphasizing the importance of health, to enhance Korean and Japanese adolescents' performance. Conclusions: It is important for national government, public education institutions, and families to couple a therapeutic approach with a preventive and management approach that encourages periodic exercise, desirable diet, and adequate sleep when exploring measures to maintain and promote adolescents' health.

An Importance-Performance Analysis of Korean Middle School Students’ Health Management Awareness during the Post-COVID-19 Era Depending on Sex

“…In the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, Korean middle school students placed high importance on the variables of disease management, hygiene management, and mental health and exhibited high performance related to these variables [11,38]. The three variables were located in the first quadrant of the IPA matrix, even during the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic phase [25], and this trend was maintained in the COVID-19 endemic phase. Interestingly, the first quadrant of the IPA matrix, focusing on the COVID-19 endemic phase, contains the factors of regular sports activity and vigorous movement activity, unlike the early and prolonged COVID-19 pandemic phases.…”

“…These factors are located in the fourth quadrant of the IPA matrix, where the included items show low importance and high performance, and receive excessive effort for performance despite their low importance [21,35]. By contrast, these factors were not found in the fourth quadrant of the IPA matrix during the early and prolonged COVID-19 pandemic phases [11,25]. These results imply that Korean middle school students who continuously practiced health management awareness related to the meaning of life were affected by a sense of freedom during the COVID-19 pandemic period, appropriate diet amounts encouraged by the resumed provision of school meals, and infection prevention for others' benefit that was learned during the COVID-19 pandemic period.…”

“…The results of the analysis are listed in Table 2. As was observed in a previous study [7,11,25], seven variables with a factor loading of 0.5 or higher were derived, including eating management, disease management, mental health, physical activity, sleep management, hygiene management, and social distancing. The calculated Cronbach's α ranged from 0.728 to 0.852, which ensured adequate reliability of the scales used in this study [31].…”

“…Furthermore, this study analyzed the middle school students' perception of health and the characteristics of their physical activities [20][21][22] according to sex, given that multiple studies have reported sex as a core variable for understanding the characteristics of adolescents' physical activities [23,24]. This study is a follow-up to previous work which found that physical activity, eating habits, and sleeping habits were among the poor health indicators during the early and sustained phases of the COVID-19 pandemic [11,25].…”

Wellness Perception of South Korean Elementary School Students during the COVID-19 Endemic

“…Studies conducted during the pandemic continued to show negative indicators of physical activity, dietary habits, and sleep management among adolescents [ 17 ]. On 2 May 2022, the Korean government’s partially relaxed containment policies were introduced, and a study was conducted with elementary school students; however, preventive health factors such as physical activity, dietary habits, and sleep management still showed low indicators.…”