The Relationship between Religious Beliefs and Attitudes towards Public Health Infection Prevention Measures among an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Population during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Bruria Adini, Yoel Cohen and Ahuva Spitz
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Bruria Adini: Department of Emergency and Disaster Management, School of Public Health, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6139001, Israel
Yoel Cohen: Moskowitz School of Communication, Ariel University, Ariel 4077625, Israel
Ahuva Spitz: School of Nursing, Jerusalem College of Technology, Jerusalem 91160, Israel

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 5, 1-10

Abstract: The ultra-Orthodox population in Israel was heavily impacted by COVID-19; it is important to understand the factors that contributed to this. There may be a friction between religious versus governmental guidelines that may reduce adherence to COVID mitigation guidelines, such as social distancing and masking. The purpose of this study is to explore this tension and the extent to which it existed in the surveyed sample. The study identified attitudes of ultra-Orthodox individuals concerning religious and public health measures to mitigate COVID-19 infection. A closed-ended questionnaire was completed by 405 ultra-Orthodox Jews. Most respondents believe that religious learning protects from harm (91%); 74% believe that periodically there are inconsistencies between religious guidelines and medical guidelines; 59% believe that preventive medicine may clash with “Divine protection”. Some public health measures applied to contain the pandemic threaten religious lifestyle; this is a source of dissonance among ultra-religious populations, which may substantially decrease willingness to comply with public health measures.

Keywords: ultra-Orthodox; perceived anxiety; information; COVID-19; public health (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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