Factors associated with high compliance behaviour against COVID-19 in the early phase of pandemic: a cross-sectional study in 12 Asian countries

Factors associated with high compliance behaviour against COVID-19 in the early phase of pandemic: a cross-sectional study in 12 Asian countries

BMJ Open

10.1136/bmjopen-2020-046310

http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-046310

Chun En Chua, Guan Sen Kew, Alla Demutska, Sabrina Quek, Evelyn Xiu Ling Loo, Hao Gui, Scott Wong, Hui Xing Lau, En Xian Sarah Low, Tze Liang Loh, Shien Lung Ooi, Emily C W Hung, M Masudur Rahman, Uday C Ghoshal, Hei Wong, Cynthia K Y Cheung, Ari F Syam, Niandi Tan, Yinglian Xiao, Jin-Song Liu, Fang Lu, Chien-Lin Chen, Yeong Yeh Lee, Ruter M Maralit, Yong-Sung Kim, Tadayuki Oshima, Hiroto Miwa, Junxiong Pang, Kewin Tien Ho Siah

09 August 2021

Chua, C. E., Kew, G. S., Demutska, A., Quek, S., Loo, E. X. L., Gui, H., Wong, S., Lau, H. X., Low, E. X. S., Loh, T. L., Ooi, S. L., Hung, E. C. W., Rahman, M. M., Ghoshal, U. C., Wong, H., Cheung, C. K. Y., Syam, A. F., Tan, N., Xiao, Y., … Siah, K. T. H. (2021). Factors associated with high compliance behaviour against COVID-19 in the early phase of pandemic: a cross-sectional study in 12 Asian countries. BMJ Open, 11(8), e046310. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-046310

IntroductionRegardless of having effective vaccines against COVID-19, containment measures such as enhanced physical distancing and good practice of personal hygiene remain the mainstay of controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries across Asia have imposed these containment measures to varying extents. However, residents in different countries would have a differing degree of compliance to these containment measures potentially due to differences in the level of awareness and motivation in the early phase of pandemic.ObjectivesIn our study, we aimed to describe and correlate the level of knowledge and attitude with the level of compliance with personal hygiene and physical distancing practices among Asian countries in the early phase of pandemic.MethodsA multinational cross-sectional study was carried out using electronic surveys between May and June 2020 across 14 geographical areas. Subjects aged 21 years and above were invited to participate through social media, word of mouth and electronic mail.ResultsAmong the 2574 responses obtained, 762 (29.6%) participants were from East Asia and 1812 (70.4%) were from Southeast Asia (SEA). A greater proportion of participants from SEA will practise physical distancing as long as it takes (72.8% vs 60.6%). Having safe distancing practices such as standing more than 1 or 2 m apart (AdjOR 5.09 95% CI (1.08 to 24.01)) or more than 3 or 4 m apart (AdjOR 7.05 95% CI (1.32 to 37.67)), wearing a mask when they had influenza-like symptoms before the COVID-19 pandemic, preferring online news channels such as online news websites/applications (AdjOR 1.73 95% CI (1.21 to 2.49)) and social media (AdjOR 1.68 95% CI (1.13 to 2.50) as sources of obtaining information about COVID-19 and high psychological well-being (AdjOR 1.39 95% CI (1.04 to 1.87)) were independent factors associated with high compliance.ConclusionsWe found factors associated with high compliance behaviour against COVID-19 in the early phase of pandemic and it will be useful to consider them in risk assessment, communication and pandemic preparedness.

Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

This research / project is supported by the National University of Singapore - IPUR research grant
Grant Reference no. : IPUR_FY2020_RES_02_PANG

This research / project is supported by the National University of Singapore - NUS COVID‐19 Seed Research Grant
Grant Reference no. : NUSCOVID19RG‐43

https://oar.a-star.edu.sg/communities-collections/articles/19935

2044-6055

Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-046310