IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i19p10200-d645230.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Relation between Perceived and Actual Understanding and Adherence: Results from a National Survey on COVID-19 Measures in Belgium

Author

Listed:
  • Kirsten Vanderplanken

    (Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), Institute of Health and Society, Université Catholique de Louvain, 1200 Brussels, Belgium)

  • Stephan Van den Broucke

    (Psychological Sciences Research Institute, Université Catholique de Louvain, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium)

  • Isabelle Aujoulat

    (Centre for Health Promotion Knowledge Transfer (RESO), Institute of Health and Society, Université Catholique de Louvain, 1200 Brussels, Belgium)

  • Joris Adriaan Frank van Loenhout

    (Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), Institute of Health and Society, Université Catholique de Louvain, 1200 Brussels, Belgium)

Abstract

To reduce the spread of COVID-19 among the population, Belgium has implemented various infection prevention and control measures over time. This study investigated the extent to which understanding of the COVID-19 measures contributed to adherence, and which personal characteristics were considered risk factors for lower adherence. It consisted of a large online survey among a sample of the population ( n = 2008), representative of citizens of Belgium in terms of gender, age, province and socio-economic status. The survey was conducted in September 2020, and included questions on perceived and actual understanding of COVID-19 protective measures in place during that time, as well as past and future adherence to those measures. The results showed that both perceived and actual understanding contributed significantly to past as well as future adherence. Risk factors for perceived understanding included being male and belonging to a younger age group, while risk factors for actual understanding were speaking French (versus Dutch) and belonging to a lower socio-economic level. Communication about COVID-19 measures should put more focus on trying to improve the understanding of the measures, instead of only making them known, particularly for those who are less health literate and as such at risk of poor understanding.

Suggested Citation

  • Kirsten Vanderplanken & Stephan Van den Broucke & Isabelle Aujoulat & Joris Adriaan Frank van Loenhout, 2021. "The Relation between Perceived and Actual Understanding and Adherence: Results from a National Survey on COVID-19 Measures in Belgium," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-10, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:19:p:10200-:d:645230
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/19/10200/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/19/10200/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Md Arif Billah & Md Mamun Miah & Md Nuruzzaman Khan, 2020. "Reproductive number of coronavirus: A systematic review and meta-analysis based on global level evidence," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-17, November.
    2. Katarina Giritli Nygren & Anna Olofsson, 2020. "Managing the Covid-19 pandemic through individual responsibility: the consequences of a world risk society and enhanced ethopolitics," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(7-8), pages 1031-1035, August.
    3. Paolo Roma & Merylin Monaro & Laura Muzi & Marco Colasanti & Eleonora Ricci & Silvia Biondi & Christian Napoli & Stefano Ferracuti & Cristina Mazza, 2020. "How to Improve Compliance with Protective Health Measures during the COVID-19 Outbreak: Testing a Moderated Mediation Model and Machine Learning Algorithms," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-17, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Febe Brackx & Fien Vanongeval & Yessika Adelwin Natalia & Geert Molenberghs & Thérèse Steenberghen, 2022. "The Effect of Transborder Mobility on COVID-19 Incidences in Belgium," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-25, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yubin Lee & Byung-Woo Kim & Shin-Woo Kim & Hyunjin Son & Boyoung Park & Heeyoung Lee & Myoungsoon You & Moran Ki, 2021. "Precautionary Behavior Practices and Psychological Characteristics of COVID-19 Patients and Quarantined Persons," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-15, June.
    2. Margherita, Alessandro & Elia, Gianluca & Klein, Mark, 2021. "Managing the COVID-19 emergency: A coordination framework to enhance response practices and actions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    3. Kim, Min Sung & Jung, Yoonhyuk & Kim, Junghwan, 2021. "A study on factors affecting privacy risk tolerance to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in South Korea," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 64(6), pages 735-741.
    4. Meng Xuan Zhang & Juliet Honglei Chen & Kwok Kit Tong & Eilo Wing-yat Yu & Anise M. S. Wu, 2021. "Problematic Smartphone Use during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Its Association with Pandemic-Related and Generalized Beliefs," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-11, May.
    5. Katarina Giritli Nygren & Maja Klinga & Anna Olofsson & Susanna Öhman, 2021. "The Language of Risk and Vulnerability in Covering the COVID-19 Pandemic in Swedish Mass Media in 2020: Implications for the Sustainable Management of Elderly Care," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-15, September.
    6. Walid Gani, 2021. "The causal relationship between corruption and irresponsible behavior in the time of COVID‐19: Evidence from Tunisia," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 33(S1), pages 165-176, April.
    7. Verma, Surabhi & Gustafsson, Anders, 2020. "Investigating the emerging COVID-19 research trends in the field of business and management: A bibliometric analysis approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 253-261.
    8. P. Battiston & M. Menegatti, 2022. "Interaction in Prevention: A General Theory and an Application to COVID-19 Pandemic," Economics Department Working Papers 2022-EP02, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).
    9. Beniamino Callegari & Christophe Feder, 2022. "Entrepreneurship and the systemic consequences of epidemics: A literature review and emerging model," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 1653-1684, December.
    10. Liu, Piper Liping, 2021. "COVID-19 information on social media and preventive behaviors: Managing the pandemic through personal responsibility," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    11. Haisheng Hu & Keshuai Xu, 2022. "Visualizing the Development of Research on Tourism Resilience With Mixed Methods," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(3), pages 21582440221, September.
    12. Piotr Dziemidok & Daria Gorczyca-Siudak & Marzena Danielak, 2021. "Is It Possible to Prevent Sars-Cov-2 Infection in a Non-Infectious Diseases Ward during the Pandemic on the Example of a Diabetes Clinic Institute of Rural Health, Lublin, Poland?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-15, July.
    13. Jiabin Li & Xianwei Liu & Yang Zou & Yichu Deng & Meng Zhang & Miaomiao Yu & Dongjiao Wu & Hao Zheng & Xinliang Zhao, 2021. "Factors Affecting COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors among University Students in Beijing, China: An Empirical Study Based on the Extended Theory of Planned Behavior," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-17, June.
    14. David Howarth, 2023. "English tort law and the pandemic: the dog that has not barked," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 48(3), pages 577-607, July.
    15. Elena Riza & Eleni Kakalou & Evangelia Nitsa & Ioannis Hodges-Mameletzis & Paraskevi Goggolidou & Agis Terzidis & Eleni Cardoso & Karl Philipp Puchner & Zisimos Solomos & Anastasia Pikouli & Eleni-Pan, 2021. "Appraisal of a Contact Tracing Training Program for COVID-19 in Greece Focusing on Vulnerable Populations," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-16, September.
    16. Francesca Gallè & Elita Anna Sabella & Paolo Roma & Stefano Ferracuti & Giovanna Da Molin & Giusy Diella & Maria Teresa Montagna & Giovanni Battista Orsi & Giorgio Liguori & Christian Napoli, 2021. "Knowledge and Lifestyle Behaviors Related to COVID-19 Pandemic in People over 65 Years Old from Southern Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-11, October.
    17. Charu Gupta & Dev Gaur & Prateek Agrawal & Deepali Virmani, 2021. "HuDA_COVID Human Disposition Analysis During COVID-19 Using Machine Learning," International Journal of E-Health and Medical Communications (IJEHMC), IGI Global, vol. 13(2), pages 1-15, July.
    18. Andreea-Mihaela Stoica, 2020. "From Challenges to Opportunities in Educational Management during COVID-19 Pandemic: The case of Fun Science Romania," Manager Journal, Faculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucharest, vol. 31(1), pages 101-107, December.
    19. Bjarke Frost Nielsen & Kim Sneppen & Lone Simonsen & Joachim Mathiesen, 2021. "Differences in social activity increase efficiency of contact tracing," The European Physical Journal B: Condensed Matter and Complex Systems, Springer;EDP Sciences, vol. 94(10), pages 1-11, October.
    20. Facundo Piguillem & Liyan Shi, 2022. "Optimal Covid-19 Quarantine and Testing Policies," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(647), pages 2534-2562.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:19:p:10200-:d:645230. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.