Preventive behaviors by the level of perceived infection sensitivity during the Korea outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in 2015

Lee, Soon Young; Yang, Hee Jeong; Kim, Gawon; Cheong, Hae-Kwan; Choi, Bo Youl

Considering past infectious diseases outbreaks, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and the H1N1 influenza, several studies have been performed to assess the relationship between the perception of residents about the outbreak and their practice of preventive behaviors [5, 7, [9] [10] [11] . In contrast, only a few studies have been conducted to assess the perception of community residents following the recent MERS outbreak. Similar studies, although limited, have been performed on people that were quarantined or medical staffs, following the MERS outbreak [12, 13] . Thus, in this study, we investigated perceived infection sensitivity among community residents and the level of preventive behaviors practiced during the 2015 outbreak of MERS in Korea. We also identified the characteristics of groups with high or low level of perceived sensitivity, by which we aimed to reveal the effect of perceived infection sensitivity on preventive behaviors.