Fear and rumor associated with COVID‑19 among Iranian adults, 2020
نویسندگان
1 School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
2 MD-MPH Program, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
3 Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Yasuj University of Medical Sciences, Yasuj, Iran
4
5 School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
6 School of Health, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
7 Research Center for Environmental Determinants of Health, Research Institute for Health, School of Public Health, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran
8 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Health School, and Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
doi
چکیده
CONTEXT: At time of epidemics, fear and rumors in the community are the main obstacles to thesuccess of prevention programs.AIMS: The aim of the study was to investigate the fear and rumors of coronavirus disease2019 (COVID‑19) among the Iranian population.SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This nationwide cross‑sectional study was conducted on residents of sixcities of Iran via street‑based multistage sampling in March 2020.SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The eligible participants completed a self‑administered questionnaireabout rumor and fear related to COVID‑19 epidemy.STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Data were analyzed through linear regression and survey analysisusing Stata (version 11).RESULTS: A total of 2249 (49.3% women) were included. The main source of information was Iranianbroadcasting (68.5%). The overall mean (standard deviation) score of fear and rumor among theIranian population was 15.68 (0.46) and 39.24 (1.27), respectively. Educational level was associatedwith fear of COVID‑19 (P = 0.001). Trusting to the rumors was affected by age (<0.0001), educationlevel (P < 0.0001), underlying disease (P = 0.017), and workplace situation (P < 0.001).CONCLUSIONS: The fear and rumor surrounding the epidemic of COVID‑19 were common insociety that could make an epidemic of COVID‑19 difficult to control. Increasing public awarenessvia reliable mass media is recommended.
