Fear and Attitude towards SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infection in Spanish Population during the Period of Confinement

Ana María Recio-Vivas, Isabel Font-Jiménez, José Miguel Mansilla-Domínguez, Angel Belzunegui-Eraso, David Díaz-Pérez, Laura Lorenzo-Allegue and David Peña-Otero
Additional contact information
Ana María Recio-Vivas: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Biomedical and Health Science, Universidad Europea de Madrid, 28670 Madrid, Spain
Isabel Font-Jiménez: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Biomedical and Health Science, Universidad Europea de Madrid, 28670 Madrid, Spain
José Miguel Mansilla-Domínguez: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Biomedical and Health Science, Universidad Europea de Madrid, 28670 Madrid, Spain
Angel Belzunegui-Eraso: Medical Anthropology Research Centre, Department of Quantitative Methods at the Faculty of Nursing, Rovira i Virgili University, 43002 Tarragona, Spain
David Díaz-Pérez: Respiratory Nursing Department at SEPAR, Respiratory Nurse at the Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery Service of the Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de Candelaria (Tenerife), 38010 Santa Cruz, Spain
Laura Lorenzo-Allegue: Department of Nursing, Faculty of Biomedical and Health Science, Universidad Europea de Madrid, 28670 Madrid, Spain
David Peña-Otero: Respiratory Nursing Department at SEPAR, Nurse Member of the IDIVAL and IiSGM Research Institutes, 28007 Madrid, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 2, 1-15

Abstract: In January 2020, the WHO classified SARS-CoV-2 infection as a public health emergency and it was declared a pandemic on 11 March 2020. The media warned about the danger of infection, fuelling the population’s fear of the new situation and increasing the perception of risk. This fear can cause behaviour that will determine the course of the pandemic and, therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyse the fear of infection from COVID-19 among the Spanish population during the state of emergency. A cross-sectional, descriptive observational study was conducted with 16,372 participants. Data on sociodemographic factors, health factors, risk perception and fear were collected through an online survey. Level of fear is associated with older age, a lower level of education, having a person infected with SARS-CoV-2 in the immediate surroundings and living with and belonging to the most socioeconomically vulnerable group of people. Risk perception is associated with increased preventive behaviour. This paper provides relevant information for the public health sector since it contributes first-hand knowledge of population data that is highly useful in terms of prevention. Understanding the experiences of people in this pandemic helps to create more effective future intervention strategies in terms of planning and management for crisis situations.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus infections; pandemics; fear; public health; preventive health services (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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