Noelia Vera-Punzano, Vanessa Bullón-Vela, Carme Miret, Jéssica Pardos-Plaza, Manuel García Cenoz, Pere Godoy, Jesús Castilla, Àngela Domínguez, Diana Toledo, Iván Martínez-Baz
{"title":"Assessment of Long-Term Changes in Knowledge and Attitudes of Household Contacts of COVID-19 Cases in Northern Spain.","authors":"Noelia Vera-Punzano, Vanessa Bullón-Vela, Carme Miret, Jéssica Pardos-Plaza, Manuel García Cenoz, Pere Godoy, Jesús Castilla, Àngela Domínguez, Diana Toledo, Iván Martínez-Baz","doi":"10.3390/idr16050074","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study aims to describe the long-term changes in the knowledge of, and attitudes towards, COVID-19 and its preventive measures in northern Spain. A telephonic survey was performed among household contacts of COVID-19 cases in Catalonia and Navarre between May 2022 and December 2023. Knowledge and attitudes were assessed through 12 questions using a Likert scale, and responses were grouped as correct or incorrect. The change from baseline to the 6-month follow-up was evaluated with the absolute difference (AD) using the proportion of correct answers. At baseline, 299 subjects were contacted, of whom 63.2% (189) completed the 6-month follow-up. Correct knowledge of transmission (>85%) and the use of preventive measures (>92%) were observed at baseline and maintained over time. The attitudes towards face mask use remained adequate over the course of six months (>79%). However, attitudes regarding the use of face masks indoors (AD = -16.4%; <i>p</i> < 0.001) and those who thought that COVID-19 had a negative impact on their lives (AD = -16.5%; <i>p</i> < 0.001) decreased after 6 months. In the post-acute phase of the pandemic, household contacts maintained the correct level of knowledge towards COVID-19, while some attitudes decreased. These results should serve as a guide for health policy makers in decision-making in case of a new increase in the incidence of SARS-CoV-2.</p>","PeriodicalId":13579,"journal":{"name":"Infectious Disease Reports","volume":"16 5","pages":"923-931"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11507522/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Infectious Disease Reports","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3390/idr16050074","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"INFECTIOUS DISEASES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study aims to describe the long-term changes in the knowledge of, and attitudes towards, COVID-19 and its preventive measures in northern Spain. A telephonic survey was performed among household contacts of COVID-19 cases in Catalonia and Navarre between May 2022 and December 2023. Knowledge and attitudes were assessed through 12 questions using a Likert scale, and responses were grouped as correct or incorrect. The change from baseline to the 6-month follow-up was evaluated with the absolute difference (AD) using the proportion of correct answers. At baseline, 299 subjects were contacted, of whom 63.2% (189) completed the 6-month follow-up. Correct knowledge of transmission (>85%) and the use of preventive measures (>92%) were observed at baseline and maintained over time. The attitudes towards face mask use remained adequate over the course of six months (>79%). However, attitudes regarding the use of face masks indoors (AD = -16.4%; p < 0.001) and those who thought that COVID-19 had a negative impact on their lives (AD = -16.5%; p < 0.001) decreased after 6 months. In the post-acute phase of the pandemic, household contacts maintained the correct level of knowledge towards COVID-19, while some attitudes decreased. These results should serve as a guide for health policy makers in decision-making in case of a new increase in the incidence of SARS-CoV-2.