COVID-19 Sources of Information, Knowledge, and Preventive Behaviors Among the US Adult Population.

Publisher: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 9505213 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1550-5022 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 10784659 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Public Health Manag Pract

Publication: 2003- : Hagerstown, MD : Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Original Publication: Frederick, MD : Aspen Publishers, c1995-

COVID-19 Vaccines* ; Health Behavior*; COVID-19/*prevention & control ; COVID-19/*psychology ; Health Promotion/*methods ; Information Dissemination/*methods ; Pandemics/*prevention & control; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; COVID-19/epidemiology ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; United States/epidemiology ; Young Adult

Context: The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in more than 20 million cases and 350 000 deaths in the United States. With the ongoing media coverage and spread of misinformation, public health authorities need to identify effective strategies and create culturally appropriate and evidence-based messaging that best encourage preventive health behaviors to control the spread of COVID-19.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship between COVID-19 sources of information and knowledge, and how US adults' knowledge may be associated with preventive health behaviors to help mitigate COVID-19 cases and deaths.
Design and Setting: For this cross-sectional study, survey data pertaining to COVID-19 were collected via online platform, Qualtrics, in February and May 2020.
Participants: Data responses included 718 US adults from the February survey and 672 US adults from the May survey-both representative of the US adult population.
Main Outcome Measures: Sociodemographic characteristics, COVID-19 knowledge score, COVID-19 reliable sources of information, and adherence to COVID-19 preventive health behaviors.
Results and Conclusions: The main findings showed that disseminating COVID-19 information across various sources, particularly television, health care providers, and health officials, to increase people's COVID-19 knowledge contributes to greater adherence to infection prevention behaviors. Across February and May 2020 survey data, participants 55 years and older and those with higher educational background reported a higher average COVID-19 knowledge score. In addition, among the racial and ethnic categories, Black/African American and Native American/Alaska Native participants reported a lower average COVID-19 knowledge score than white participants-signaling the need to establish COVID-19 communication that is culturally-tailored and community-based. Overall, health care authorities must deliver clear and concise messaging about the importance of adhering to preventive health behaviors, even as COVID-19 vaccines become widely available to the general public. Health officials must also focus on increasing COVID-19 knowledge and dispelling misinformation.
Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
(Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

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0 (COVID-19 Vaccines)

Date Created: 20210325 Date Completed: 20210413 Latest Revision: 20230929

20240628

10.1097/PHH.0000000000001348

33762543