Influenza pandemic preparedness: motivation for protection among small and medium businesses in Australia

Watkins, Rochelle E; Cooke, Feonagh C; Donovan, Robert J; MacIntyre, C Raina; Itzwerth, Ralf; Plant, Aileen J

Thinking a lot (versus a little or not at all) about the impact of pandemic influenza on the business was most strongly associated with the perceived risk of pandemic influenza, with participants who perceived a pandemic as likely or very likely to be a health issue in Australia in the near future being approximately 5 times more likely to have reported thinking a lot about the impact of a pandemic on their business. Businesses that were located in the capital city were about three times more likely to have spent a lot of time thinking about the impact of a pandemic compared with businesses in satellite city or rural locations. These same factors were also significant predictors of having considered the impact of a pandemic on the business when this variable was dichotomised as thought at all (a little or a lot) versus not at all.