Risk perceptions of COVID-19 around the world

Abstract

The World Health Organization has declared the rapid spread of COVID-19 around the world a global public health emergency. It is well-known that the spread of the disease is influenced by people's willingness to adopt preventative public health behaviors, which are often associated with public risk perception. In this study, we present the first assessment of public risk perception of COVID-19 around the world using national samples (total N ¼ 6,991) in ten countries across Europe, America, and Asia. We find that although levels of concern are relatively high, they are highest in the UK compared to all other sampled countries. Pooled across countries, personal experience with the virus, individualistic and prosocial values, hearing about the virus from friends and family, trust in government, science, and medical professionals, personal knowledge of government strategy, and personal and collective efficacy were all significant predictors of risk perception. Although there was substantial variability across cultures, individualistic worldviews, personal experience, prosocial values, and social amplification through friends and family in particular were found to be significant determinants in more than half of the countries examined. Risk perception correlated significantly with reported adoption of preventative health behaviors in all ten countries. Implications for effective risk communication are discussed.

Understanding the Impact of Public Health Advice on Paediatric Healthcare Use During COVID-19: A Cross-sectional Survey of Parents

“…Understanding the public perceptions of the risk of contracting COVID-19 is important for the effectiveness and success of government responses to control the disease (16) and in the current study, a greater perception of the risk that their child would contract COVID-19 was linked to hesitancy to attend health services. Public compliance is required for wide-ranging public health strategies such as physical distancing, hand hygiene, closure of schools and nonessential workplaces to be effective (1,16) and the use of formal information sources are critical for encouraging protective behaviours such as social distancing (17). However, it is important for public health messaging and health services to adequately communicate to the public that essential services such as health remain open and are safe to attend when needed to avoid deterioration of a child's illness (4).…”

“…The decision to seek health care is complex (18) and current circumstances require parents to weigh up information regarding their child's need for healthcare for a non-COVID-19 related illness, the risk of their child catching COVID-19 and the government public heath advice. Moreover, experience of COVID-19 may also impact their perception of this risk involved (16), however, only a small number of the current sample had personal experience of the disease. It is worth noting that a commonly reported reason for the drastic public measures was the need to maintain capacity in health services for the most vulnerable members of the population (13).…”

Older People are Less Pessimistic about the Health Risks of Covid-19

“…One possible interpretation for our findings, which we plan to examine using future waves of our survey, is that Covid-19 makes the prospect of disease and death particularly salient for the young. This preliminary report draws on, and contributes to, a growing number of surveys on risk perceptions about the (Belot et al 2020, Dryhurst et al 2020, Fan Orhun, and Turjeman 2020, Galasso et al 2020, Bursztyn et al 2020 as well as related economic risks (Altig et al 2020). Relative to these surveys, we elicit beliefs about own and others' risks and document a surprising age gradient.…”

Psychological distress among cancer survivors during implementation of a nationwide Movement Control Order over the COVID-19 pandemic

“…In summary, the primary objectives of the present study were to examine the psychological distress of people who have survived cancer during the COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia. Factors such as sociodemographics, the characteristics of cancer [9,10], and the risk perception of COVID-19 [11] can affect psychological distress during the pandemic. Thus, understanding the extent to which these factors in uence psychological distress will also be investigated.…”