Self protective behavior patterns and influencing factors of Chinese residents during the COVID-19 epidemic

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze Chinese residents′ behavior characteristics in regards to wearing masks, washing their hands upon returning home, avoiding unnecessary leaving home and reducing unnecessary parties during the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020. To investigate the demographic differences and influential factors of the above four individual protective behaviors, and to provide scientific basis for epidemic prevention and control.  Methods  A total of 4 123 Chinese residents aged 18 years and over were selected from the 2020 COVID-19 Prevention and Control and Its Impact Survey. The Chi-square test was used to examine the differences in the four behaviors among different demographic groups, and multiple Logistic regression analysis models were used to analyze the factors of the four behaviors.  Results  The percentage of practicing the above four individual protective behaviors was very high, which were 96.09%, 94.66%, 91.12%, 95.22%, respectively. Meanwhile, there were significant difference among different groups. Multivariate Logistic analysis showed that the analysis main factors affecting wearing masks were gender (OR=2.40, P < 0.001), urban or rural area (OR=0.48, P < 0.001), whether in Wuhan (OR=0.27, P=0.001;OR=0.13, P < 0.001);for washing their hands upon returning home the factors were gender (OR=2.18, P < 0.001), group age (OR=3.14, P < 0.001;OR=8.29, P < 0.001;OR=4.69, P < 0.001), urban or rural area (OR=0.73, P=0.050), education level (OR=1.53, P=0.059;OR=2.35, P < 0.001), whether in Wuhan (OR=0.70, P=0.089);for avoiding unnecessary leaving home the factors were gender (OR=2.05, P < 0.001), group age (OR=2.77, P < 0.001;OR=3.30, P < 0.001;OR=5.43, P < 0.001), urban or rural area (OR=1.64, P=0.001), education level (OR=1.50, P=0.026), whether in Wuhan (OR=0.73, P=0.056;OR=0.63, P=0.002);and for reducing unnecessary parties the factors were gender (OR=1.97, P < 0.001), group age (OR=2.94, P < 0.001;OR=3.00, P=0.002;OR=3.33, P=0.003), education level (OR=0.52, P=0.032;OR=0.61, P=0.097), whether in Wuhan (OR=0.69, P=0.094;OR=0.58, P=0.006).  Conclusions  During the COVID-19 epidemic, Chinese residents did a good job in personal protection. But there were still group differences. So, the formulation of relevant policies and personal protection publicity should be varied based on specific groups of people and specific areas. © 2021, Publication Centre of Anhui Medical University. All rights reserved.