Health Behavior Change During COVID-19 Pandemic

Conditions

Health Behavior

Keywords

General population, Adult, Handwashing, Social cognition, Anxiety, COVID-19

Brief summary

This study aims at investigating handwashing behavior during COVID-19 pandemic. It was hypothesized that social-cognitive and emotional predictors as well as COVID-19 morbidity and mortality rates within the country would be associated with handwashing behavior in the general population of adults in 14 countries.

Detailed description

This observational study aims at testing the adherence to handwashing guidelines (the World Health Organization, WHO, 2020) at two measurement points, spanning 1 month. Adults from the general population in 14 countries (Poland, Australia, Canada, China, France, Gambia, Germany, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Switzerland) will provide self-report data on handwashing behavior and its social-cognitive predictors (perceived effectiveness of handwashing, risk perception, outcome expectancy, self-efficacy, intention, planning, and action control), anxiety, as well as COVID-19 morbidity and mortality rates within the country.

Szczuka Z, Siwa M, Abraham C, Baban A, Brooks S, Cipolletta S, Danso E, Dombrowski SU, Gan Y, Gaspar T, Gaspar de Matos M, Griva K, Jongenelis M, Keller J, Knoll N, Ma J, Abdul Awal Miah M, Morgan K, Peraud W, Quintard B, Shah V, Schenkel K, Scholz U, Schwarzer R, Taut D, Tomaino SCM, Vilchinsky N, Wolf H, Luszczynska A.

2022-11-215 citations

10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115569

The Interplay Between Strictness of Policies and Individuals’ Self-Regulatory Efforts: Associations with Handwashing During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Aleksandra Łuszczyńska, Zofia Szczuka, Charles Abraham, Adriana Băban, Sydney Brooks et al. (29 authors)

Annals of Behavioral Medicine2021-12-0613 citations

10.1093/abm/kaab102

The trajectory of COVID-19 pandemic and handwashing adherence: findings from 14 countries.

Szczuka Z, Abraham C, Baban A, Brooks S, Cipolletta S, Danso E, Dombrowski SU, Gan Y, Gaspar T, de Matos MG, Griva K, Jongenelis M, Keller J, Knoll N, Ma J, Miah MAA, Morgan K, Peraud W, Quintard B, Shah V, Schenkel K, Scholz U, Schwarzer R, Siwa M, Szymanski K, Taut D, Tomaino SCM, Vilchinsky N, Wolf H, Luszczynska A.

2021-10-0524 citations

10.1186/s12889-021-11822-5

Interventions

OTHERNo intervention

Observational data collection only, accounting for COVID-19 morbidity and mortality levels within each country

Study design

Observational model

ECOLOGIC_OR_COMMUNITY

Time perspective

PROSPECTIVE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* adults (from general population) who provided informed consent to participate

Exclusion criteria

* younger than \<18 years old

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Handwashing adherence	1 month	The 12-item self-report measure of adherence to handwashing guidelines across situations (e.g., after visiting public spaces, after touching garbage, etc.) based on the guidelines issued by the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The responses are provided on a 4-point scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree). Higher scores indicate better outcomes (the higher level of adherence to handwashing guidelines).
Frequency of handwashing	1 month	The 1-item self-report measure of the frequency of handwashing (for at least 20 seconds, all surfaces of the hands) daily. The responses are provided on a 4-point scale, ranging from 1 (less than once) to 5 (more than 10 times). Higher scores indicate better outcomes (the higher frequency of handwashing).

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Outcome expectancy	1 month	4 items assessing positive (1 item) and negative (1 items) outcome expectancies; mean item scores ranging from 1 to 4, higher scores indicate more positive outcome expectancies
Intention	1 month	2 questionnaire items assessing intention to adhere to handwashing recommendations; mean item scores ranging from 1 to 4, higher scores indicate stronger intention to wash hands (for at least 20 seconds, all surfaces of the hands)
Planning	1 month	2 questionnaire items assessing action planning (1 item) and coping planning (1 item); mean item scores ranging from 1 to 4, higher scores indicate a higher level of self-reported planning
Self-efficacy	1 month	4 self-efficacy questionnaire items; mean item score ranging from 1 to 4, higher scores indicate stronger self-efficacy
Perceived effectiveness of hand hygiene	1 month	1 questionnaire item assessing perceptions of handwashing as an effective means of preventing coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 infection; item scores ranging from 1 to 4, higher scores indicate a higher level of perceived effectiveness of hand hygiene
Anxiety	1 month	7-item self-report scale (Generalized Anxiety Disorder, GAD-7) scale to assess anxiety symptoms; mean item scores ranging from 1 to 4, higher scores indicate a higher level of generalized anxiety
Country-level COVID-19 morbidity and mortality rates	60 days	The daily cumulative numbers for COVID-19 morbidity and mortality in the study countries. Published daily as the Situation Report by World Health Organization, starting on 21 January 2020. Higher numbers indicate the higher cumulative COVID-19 morbidity and mortality rates in the country.
Action control	1 month	3 questionnaire items assessing a facet of action control, namely self-monitoring; mean item scores ranging from 1 to 4, higher scores indicate a higher level of self-reported monitoring of handwashing behavior
Risk perception	1 month	3 questionnaire items to assess risk perception; mean item score ranging from 1 to 5, higher scores indicate higher risk perception

Countries

Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Switzerland, The Gambia

Outcome results

None listed