ABSTRACT

Since its first emergence, people have been having different attitudes and perceptions towards the COVID-19 pandemic. Perceptions (e.g. perception of disease threat) have profound consequences on behavior (e.g medication adherence). If adequately available, perception studies guide public awareness efforts or help in understanding behavior. In this study , repeated cross-sectional data were collected from 376 randomly selected globally located respondents over two periods. Participants perceived COVID-19 as severe as Tumor and AIDS (F (2,722) = 2.347; p = .096), and as more severe than other 14 illnesses; e.g. Diabetes and High blood pressure. Age-wise, participants above 50 age group perceived COVID-19 as more severe than the under 50 (F (1,240) = 10.378, p < .001). In addition, the magnitude of severity perception was found to be dependent on the different stages of the outbreak in the respondents' corresponding countries. In a gap of a month time, depression surpassed COVID-19 to be perceived as more severe. Majority of respondents attributed COVID-19 as a physical (vs mental) illness, thus considered it as more severe (vs less severe). Implications of this study could mean; (1) COVID-19 patients might be susceptible to social stigmatization as HIV patients, and (2) severity perception is shaping intervention friendly behaviors.

摘要

自首次出现以来，人们对 COVID-19 大流行一直持有不同的态度和看法。感知（例如对疾病威胁的感知）对行为（例如药物依从性）有深远的影响。如果足够可用，感知研究将指导公众意识努力或帮助理解行为。在这项研究中，在两个时期内从 376 名随机选择的全球受访者中收集了重复的横截面数据。参与者认为 COVID-19 与肿瘤和艾滋病一样严重（F (2,722) = 2.347；p = .096），并且比其他 14 种疾病更严重；例如糖尿病和高血压。在年龄方面，50 岁以上年龄组的参与者认为 COVID-19 比 50 岁以下更严重（F (1,240) = 10.378，p < .001）。此外，发现对严重程度的感知程度取决于受访者对应国家爆发的不同阶段。在一个月的时间间隔内，抑郁症超过了 COVID-19，被认为更加严重。大多数受访者将 COVID-19 归因于身体（相对于精神）疾病，因此认为它更严重（相对于不太严重）。这项研究的意义可能意味着；(1) COVID-19 患者可能像 HIV 患者一样容易受到社会污名化，(2) 严重性认知正在塑造干预友好行为。因此认为它更严重（相对于不太严重）。这项研究的意义可能意味着；(1) COVID-19 患者可能像 HIV 患者一样容易受到社会污名化，(2) 严重性认知正在塑造干预友好行为。因此认为它更严重（相对于不太严重）。这项研究的意义可能意味着；(1) COVID-19 患者可能像 HIV 患者一样容易受到社会污名化，(2) 严重性认知正在塑造干预友好行为。