Risk perceptions of COVID-19 and its impact on precautionary behavior: A qualitative study.
Mohammed M J Alqahtani, Boshra A Arnout, Fahmi Hassan Fadhel and 1 others
PMID 33612345WHAT IT FOUND
During curfew, Saudi community members named social gatherings and hospitals/clinics as riskiest places.
Some avoided appointments and trusted WhatsApp remedies, while stigma and fear of clinics were part of what they reported.
Key findings
01Social occasions were named among the riskiest places by 24 of 26 participants, and hospitals and clinics by 20 of 26.
0215 participants reported avoiding doctors and clinics, and a participant described missing four follow-up clinic appointments.
03Participants described false news and WhatsApp remedies as a major concern, and some saw health professionals and their families as possible infection sources.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample was small and purposive, so it cannot show how common these views are. It included only adults in selected Saudi cities during the early curfew. It did not test causal links between risk perception and behavior. The reported percentages are counts from a small sample, not population rates. Most participants were male and university-educated, so views of women and lower-education groups may be limited.
Declared interests
The work did not receive funding, and the authors declared no competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these counts as population rates. They come from a small purposive sample and describe perceptions, not tested effects.