Anxiety levels, precautionary behaviours and public perceptions during the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak in China: a population-based cross-sectional survey.
BMJ Open
; 10(10): e040910, 2020 10 08.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-841653
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To investigate psychological and behavioural responses to COVID-19 among the Chinese general population. DESIGN, SETTING ANDPARTICIPANTS:
We conducted a population-based mobile phone survey between 1 February and 10 February 2020 via random digit dialling. A total of 1011 adult residents in Wuhan (n=510), the epicentre and quarantined city, and Shanghai (n=501) were interviewed. Proportional quota sampling and poststratification weighting were used. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to investigate perception factors associated with the public responses. PRIMARY OUTCOMEMEASURES:
We measured anxiety levels using the 7-item Generalised Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7) and asked respondents to report their precautionary behaviours before and during the outbreak.RESULTS:
The prevalence of moderate or severe anxiety was significantly higher (p<0.001) in Wuhan (32.8%) than Shanghai (20.5%). Around 79.6%-88.2% residents reported always wearing a face mask when they went out and washing hands immediately when they returned home, with no discernible difference across cities. Only 35.5%-37.0% of residents reported a handwashing duration above 40 s as recommended by the WHO. The strongest predictor of moderate or severe anxiety was perceived harm of the disease (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.5 to 2.1), followed by confusion about information reliability (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.5 to 1.9). None of the examined perception factors were associated with odds of handwashing duration above 40 s.CONCLUSIONS:
Prevalence of moderate or severe anxiety and strict personal precautionary behaviours was generally high, regardless of the quarantine status. Our results support efforts for handwashing education programmes with a focus on hygiene procedures in China and timely dissemination of reliable information.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Anxiety
/
Anxiety Disorders
/
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Health Behavior
/
Disease Outbreaks
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Pandemics
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Long Covid
/
Variants
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
/
Young adult
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
BMJ Open
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Bmjopen-2020-040910
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