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

This study found that participants whose sensitivity to the MERS outbreak was high tended to have a higher consideration that the practice of preventive behaviors was reliable, as well has had higher rates of the practice of preventive behaviors. These results were consistent with the existing theory that risk perception of infectious diseases should promote preventive behaviors, functioning as a factor in controlling the spread of an outbreak [18] . Consistent with results of this study, previous studies reported that as participants thought that they were more susceptible to the disease, as the corresponding disease was more severe, and as the disease was suspected to be more difficult to treat, the chances of them following guidelines were higher [5, 7] . In an investigation of the H1N1 influenza outbreak of Korea in 2009, with 4,606 community residents, there were more positive health behaviors such as more frequent hand washing as H1N1-related anxiety became higher (β= 1.516 for moderate and 4.103 for high compared to low, both with p< 0.001). In addition, concerns about infection correlated with change in health behaviors [10] .