Percepção e adesão de usuários de internet às medidas não farmacológicas para mitigação da Covid-19: uma análise de inquéritos repetidos nos períodos de menor e maior adesão no Brasil
Nenhuma Miniatura disponível
Data
2022-12-08
Título da Revista
ISSN da Revista
Título de Volume
Editor
Universidade Federal de Goiás
Resumo
Introduction: Mitigation of the Covid-19 pandemic caused by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV
2), which started in 2020, required the implementation of a set of public health measures to
reduce virus transmission in the population. Prior to the availability of specific vaccines and
antiviral drugs, so-called non-pharmacological measures (social distancing, hand sanitization,
and mask wearing) were the only measures with the potential to reduce the number of cases,
hospitalizations, and deaths from Covid-19. Understanding and comprehension of the
importance of these measures, as well as public adherence to them, are therefore key factors
for their effective implementation. Little is known yet about the perception, knowledge, and
behavior of society regarding the measures advocated and implemented during the Covid-19
pandemic.
Objective: To characterize and evaluate, specifically for Brazil, the perception, knowledge, and
behavior of Brazilian Internet users regarding Covid-19, including the population's adherence
to non-pharmacological measures implemented. Also, we sought to identify factors associated
with adherence to non-pharmacological measures among users in two periods identified as
periods of lowest and highest adherence to non-pharmacological measures.
Method: This is a cross-sectional study with repeated surveys. We used data from a sample of
adult users (over 18 years) of the Facebook application who were invited to participate in an
international survey conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in
collaboration with Johns Hopkins University in the United States. In Brazil the data was collected
in the period July/2020 to March/2021. The source of information, knowledge, perception about
Covid-19, and population behavior regarding adherence to Covid-19 protective measures were
reported by a convenience sample that included recording 63,989 responses from internet users
over 19 surveys. The following groups of variables were considered: 1) sociodemographics, 2)
individuals' behavior regarding protective measures to Covid-19 (prevention with physical
distance, hand sanitization, and mask use), 3) individuals' perception of Covid-19 (risk in the
community; risk of infection; infection control; severity of infection; effectiveness of mask use,
and effectiveness of hand sanitization), 4) knowledge about Covid-19 (knowledge about risk
group and knowledge about transmission), and 5) source of information about Covid-19. Due to the lack of information on independence between
waves in the study, two moments (lower and higher adherence of individuals regarding
distancing, hand sanitization, and mask use) were selected to be analyzed. The descriptive
analysis of the variables presented the frequency estimates and response percentages for the
categorical variables, as well as their respective confidence intervals. In order to identify factors
associated with greater adherence of the population to the measures, univariable and
multivariable analysis was performed through Poisson regression models, with estimated
prevalence ratio (PR) and respective 95% confidence intervals (CI).
Results: The recorded number of internet user responses in the lowest adherence period (Nov
9 - 14 Nov 23/2020) was 2,339 and the highest adherence period (Mar 15 - Mar 29/2021) was
2,668. The sociodemographic characterization of the users regarding gender, age and education
were similar during the two periods, lowest and highest adherence respectively, where the
majority were female (53.3% and 53.7%), young (62% and 61.8%) and more than 40% had
high school education (47.7% and 48.2%). Most individuals presented an important perception
about the risk of Covid-19, where in the period of lowest adherence, 39.4% (330) and highest
adherence 55.1% (528) claimed that the risk of the disease to the community is very and
extremely dangerous. As for the understanding about the effectiveness of the measures, in the
periods of lower and higher adherence respectively, 49.5% (1,094) and 52.4% (1,372) claimed
that hand hygiene is extremely effective. Regarding the behavior, during the periods of lower
and higher adherence respectively, considering the adoption of protective measures, it is
observed that 56.8% (1,394) and 65.1% (1,869) of users reported adherence to physical
distancing, 88.9% (2,139) and 94.2% (2,549) used a mask, and 83.3% (2,018) and 86%
(2,391) sanitized their hands. Through Poisson regression, it is found that the prevalence in
performing the protective measures (distancing, hand sanitization, and mask use) during the
period of lower adherence was higher among the young (PR = 1.28; PR = 1.05 and PR = 1.07)
and elderly (PR = 1.52; PR = 1.31 and PR = 1.35). For the period of higher adherence, it is
observed that young (PR = 1.63; PR = 1.19 and PR = 1.05), elderly (PR = 1.25; PR = 1.33 and
PR = 1.00) and individuals with knowledge about the form of transmission (PR = 1.48; PR =
1.62 and PR = 1.06) performed the protective measures more frequently. In addition, it is found
that women (PR = 1.02 and 1.18) and individuals with greater understanding about the
effectiveness of hand hygiene (PR = 1.16) and mask use (PR = 2.13) did more hand hygiene
and used a mask more frequently.
Conclusion: Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic in Brazil it is observed that internet users'
adherence to non-pharmacological measures may be associated with the epidemiological
picture of the disease, in which, the periods of lower (Nov 9 - 14 Nov 23/2020) and higher (Mar
15 - Mar 29/2021) adherence are characterized by lower and higher numbers of reported cases,
respectively. Thus, during the periods, there was high adherence to the use of masks and hand
washing. The number of individuals who adhered to physical distancing was high, although it
could have been higher. A significant perception of risk was observed, as well as levels of
knowledge about the effectiveness and importance of the protective measures implemented.
However, these values varied in the population according to age and education level.
Importantly, greater knowledge about the disease was associated with greater adherence of
individuals to non-pharmacological measures implemented as public health strategies.
Relevance and impact: The results showed how internet user's knowledge of Covid-19
influenced the adherence of individuals to non-pharmacological measures to face the pandemic.
Continuous information dissemination and risk communication to the population are key
strategies that should be instituted and prioritized during public health emergencies in order to
increase the population's adherence to non-pharmacological mitigation measures. The findings
of this study present important points for the Brazilian and international literature, and above
all, relevant evidence to support managers and health policies during public health emergencies.
Descrição
Citação
SERGIO, L. M. S. Percepção e adesão de usuários de internet às medidas não farmacológicas para mitigação da Covid-19: uma análise de inquéritos repetidos nos períodos de menor e maior adesão no Brasil. 2022. 76 f. Dissertação ( Mestrado em Medicina Tropical e Saúde Publica) - Universidade Federal de Goiás, Goiânia, 2022.