TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring Behavioral Typologies to Inform COVID-19 Health Campaigns
T2 - A Person-Centered Approach
AU - THE DATA4ACTION RESEARCH GROUP
AU - Smith, Rachel A.
AU - Myrick, Jessica G.
AU - Lennon, Robert P.
AU - Martin, Molly A.
AU - Small, Meg L.
AU - Van Scoy, Lauren J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Data4Action Research Group is supported by the Penn State's Social Science Research Institute, Huck Institute of the Life Sciences, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Clinical Research Center and the Office of the Provost. The authors thank the members of the D4A Action Research Group: Dee Bagshaw, Clinical & Translational Science Institute, Nita Bharti, Dept. of Biology and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Cyndi Flanagan, Clinical Research Center, Matthew Ferrari, Dept. of Biology & Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Thomas Gates, Social Science Research Institute, Margeaux Gray, Dept. of Biobehavioral Health, Suresh Kuchipudi, Animal Diagnostic Lab, Vivek Kapur, Dept. of Animal Science and the Huck Institutes of Life Sciences, Stephanie Lanza, Dept. of Biobehavioral Health and the Prevention Research Center, James Marden, Dept. of Biology & Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Susan McHale, Dept. of Human Development and Family Studies and the Social Science Research Institute, Glenda Palmer, Social Science Research Institute, Andrew Read, Depts. of Biology and Entomology, and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Connie Rogers, Dept. of Nutritional Sciences and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, and Charima Young, The Penn State Office of Government and Community Relations.
Publisher Copyright:
©, Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - As the United States continues to be ravaged by COVID-19, it becomes increasingly important to implement effective public health campaigns to improve personal behaviors that help control the spread of the virus. To design effective campaigns, research is needed to understand the current mitigation intentions of the general public, diversity in those intentions, and theoretical predictors of them. COVID-19 campaigns will be particularly challenging because mitigation involves myriad, diverse behaviors. This study takes a person-centered approach to investigate data from a survey (N = 976) of Pennsylvania adults. Latent class analysis revealed five classes of mitigation: one marked by complete adherence with health recommendations (34% of the sample), one by complete refusal (9% of the sample), and three by a mixture of adherence and refusal. Statistically significant covariates of class membership included relatively positive injunctive norms, risk due to essential workers in the household, personal knowledge of someone who became infected with COVID-19, and belief that COVID-19 was a leaked biological weapon. Additionally, trait reactance was associated with non-adherence while health mavenism was associated with adherence. These findings may be used to good effect by local healthcare providers and institutions, and also inform broader policy-making decisions regarding public health campaigns to mitigate COVID-19.
AB - As the United States continues to be ravaged by COVID-19, it becomes increasingly important to implement effective public health campaigns to improve personal behaviors that help control the spread of the virus. To design effective campaigns, research is needed to understand the current mitigation intentions of the general public, diversity in those intentions, and theoretical predictors of them. COVID-19 campaigns will be particularly challenging because mitigation involves myriad, diverse behaviors. This study takes a person-centered approach to investigate data from a survey (N = 976) of Pennsylvania adults. Latent class analysis revealed five classes of mitigation: one marked by complete adherence with health recommendations (34% of the sample), one by complete refusal (9% of the sample), and three by a mixture of adherence and refusal. Statistically significant covariates of class membership included relatively positive injunctive norms, risk due to essential workers in the household, personal knowledge of someone who became infected with COVID-19, and belief that COVID-19 was a leaked biological weapon. Additionally, trait reactance was associated with non-adherence while health mavenism was associated with adherence. These findings may be used to good effect by local healthcare providers and institutions, and also inform broader policy-making decisions regarding public health campaigns to mitigate COVID-19.
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U2 - 10.1080/10810730.2021.1946218
DO - 10.1080/10810730.2021.1946218
M3 - Article
C2 - 34292858
AN - SCOPUS:85111406336
SN - 1081-0730
VL - 26
SP - 402
EP - 412
JO - Journal of Health Communication
JF - Journal of Health Communication
IS - 6
ER -