Perceived social support and compliance with stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19 outbreak: evidence from Iran.
BMC Public Health
; 20(1): 1650, 2020 Nov 04.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-909175
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Strong evidence demonstrates that social support plays a key role in facilitating preventive health behaviors. The aim of the current study was to assess the effects of perceived social support on compliance with stay-at-home orders in response to a COVID-19 outbreak during the Persian New Year (Nowruz) holydays, since Nowruz holidays of 2020 coincided with the peak of the coronavirus epidemic in Iran.METHODS:
This cross-sectional survey was carried out based on phone interviews of 1073 adults aged over 18 years from 4 to 12 April 2020 in Mashhad, Khorasan-Razavi Province, as the second largest city of Iran. A systematic random sampling was carried out using fixed phone number lists provided by Telecommunication Company of Khorasan-Razavi Province. Phone interviews were carried out by trained interviewers from the Iranian Students Polling Agency (ISPA) at various times of the day. The survey included sociodemographic questions, perceived social support scale (MSPSS) and questions about self-isolation during the Nowruz holiday. Statistical analysis included Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney test and multivariate logistic regression.RESULTS:
20.5% of participants reported poor compliance with stay at home orders during the first 2 weeks of Nowruz. Clear social gradients were not found in stay-at-home compliance. When controlling socio-demographic factors, perceived social support, interestingly, both fostered and hindered people's compliance with stay at home orders, depending on the source of support from family members (OR = .874, 95% CI = .803, .950, p < .005), friends (OR = 1.147, 95% CI = 1.076, 1.222, p < .001) and a significant other person (OR = .926, 95% CI = .849, 1.010, p = .084).CONCLUSIONS:
Public health messaging may need to emphasize the role that friends and families can play in helping to protect those in their friendship/family groups by promoting compliance with social distancing. Further in-depth studies are recommended to evaluate how this kind of messaging can most effectively encourage people to engage in social distancing practices.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Social Support
/
Quarantine
/
Disease Outbreaks
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Guideline Adherence
/
Pandemics
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
/
Systematic review/Meta Analysis
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
BMC Public Health
Journal subject:
Public Health
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S12889-020-09759-2
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