Initial psychological responses to Influenza A, H1N1 (""Swine flu"")

Goodwin, Robin; Haque, Shamsul; Neto, Felix; Myers, Lynn B

Respondents were asked to complete a questionnaire 'about perceptions of swine flu' which comprised a number of closed and open-ended format questions. Beliefs about comparative risk were analysed for a number of group members associated with risk in previous pandemics. We included these 'high risk' groups on the basis of previous research on representations and reactions to HIV/AIDS, the Ebola virus and SARS [3, 9, [12] [13] [14] . 'Outgroup' members, who may be marginalized by society (prostitutes, homosexuals) have been linked to higher risk in previous epidemics [12, 13] , while the association of poverty with disease spread in previous infections [3] led us to include homeless people. Concerns about the risk of respiratory diseases from proximity to animals [3] meant we included pig farmers and farmers in general in our list of risk groups. We also included the elderly and immune compromised, two groups at higher risk from seasonal influenzas. Respondents completed closed-format 3point scales, indicating the extent to which they believed these groups were more at risk than me, the same risk as me or less at risk than me.