Knowledge, attitudes, and perception susceptibility towards the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin American region

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Published Apr 29, 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v10i4.2728

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Zegarra-Valdivia J. A
Universidad Señor de Sipán, Chiclayo, Perú. Km5 carretera a Pimentel, Chiclayo-Perú
Chino-Vilca B. N
Universidad Nacional de San Agustín de Arequipa, Perú.
Ames-Guerrero R.
Universidad Católica Santa María, Perú.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Latin American countries have been strongly affected by COVID-19. Due to the alarming prevalence of cases, we explored which psychosocial elements may influence poor compliance with mandatory control measures among the population.


 


OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess the Latin American population's knowledge, attitude, and susceptibility perception during the early coronavirus outbreak.


METHOD: We collected data from 600 self-selected participants through a web-based cross-sectional survey evaluating demographic information. The respondents were between 16 to 77 years old. Most of the participants were female (n= 382), graduated professionals (56.8 %), citizens living in any country in South America (72.2%).


 


RESULTS: Logistic regression showed that knowledge is highly related with age (p=0.010*), attitude is related with marital status (p=0.017*), perception susceptibility is related with education (p=0.049*), marital status (p=0.001**) and occupation (p=0.001**). Our study identified that people reported adequate knowledge by identifying expected symptoms and the coronavirus transmission process. There is a significant perceived susceptibility to contracting the mentioning virus (57.7%), displaying stigmatized behavior (59.1%), fear of contracting the virus from others (70.2%), and concern regarding serious consequences after the COVID-19 disease (72.3%). Additionally, we found that people distrust the National Health administration's response (61.57%), preparedness for the disease (73.8%), and suggesting insufficient measures to deal with COVID-19 disease (61.3%).


 


CONCLUSION: Within the framework of government regulations, it is suggested that guidelines be considered to expand strategies and provide reliable knowledge to facilitate positive attitudes towards protection measures against COVID-19. Communication strategies would serve both to contain psychological reactions and the perception of risk of contagion and educational actions to ensure compliance with public control measures among the population.

Keywords: Attitudes, COVID-19, health communication, knowledge, perception, public health, primary prevention

Article Details

How to Cite
J. A, Zegarra-Valdivia; B. N, Chino-Vilca; R., Ames-Guerrero. Knowledge, attitudes, and perception susceptibility towards the COVID-19 pandemic in Latin American region. Medical Research Archives, [S.l.], v. 10, n. 4, apr. 2022. ISSN 2375-1924. Available at: <https://esmed.org/MRA/mra/article/view/2728>. Date accessed: 16 apr. 2024. doi: https://doi.org/10.18103/mra.v10i4.2728.
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Issue
Vol 10 No 4 (2022): Vol.10 Issue 4 April 2022
Section
Research Articles

The Medical Research Archives grants authors the right to publish and reproduce the unrevised contribution in whole or in part at any time and in any form for any scholarly non-commercial purpose with the condition that all publications of the contribution include a full citation to the journal as published by the Medical Research Archives.

 

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