Aim: To study differences between public health physicians' and general population's knowledge, attitude, and behaviours towards an influenza pandemic. Methods: During winter 2009, an anonymous questionnaire online (www.ijph.it) of 34 questions was available for participants, structured into three parts: socio-demographic information, people's knowledge, and behaviours about influenza H1N1. Results: 836 persons were interviewed (335 physicians and 501 not physicians). Of these, 50.8% of physicians and 78.1% of not physicians were aged less than 50 years and 57.6% of physicians and 31.7% of not physicians were male. Physicians were more interested to be updated about the pandemic (90.6% versus 88.4% of not physicians; p = 0.003); not physicians were more inclined to avoid crowded places (29.7% versus 17.6% of physicians; p < 0.001); and physicians were more prone to get vaccinated (56.4% versus 23.6% of not physicians; p < 0.001). Broadly, physicians had a better ability to deal the pandemic, both for knowledge and behaviours. Particularly, a significant difference (p < 0.001) was found concerning the principle source of information on the pandemic, for physicians being the internet (41.5%), followed by the health facilities' internal communication (33.1%), while for not physicians being watching the national television news (34.1%) and surfing the internet (30.9%). Conclusions: During the spread of the pandemic flu, a lot of information was propagated chaotically. The information given were not always truthful and often they were interpreted incorrectly or sometimes only partially understood by the population, and this needs to be taken into account for future successful communication in cases of emergency.

Knowledge, attitude, and behaviour of public health doctors towards pandemic influenza compared to the general population in Italy / LA TORRE, Giuseppe; Semyonov, Leda; Mannocci, Alice; Boccia, Antonio. - In: SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH. - ISSN 1403-4948. - STAMPA. - 40:1(2012), pp. 69-75. [10.1177/1403494811424612]

Knowledge, attitude, and behaviour of public health doctors towards pandemic influenza compared to the general population in Italy

LA TORRE, Giuseppe;SEMYONOV, LEDA;MANNOCCI, ALICE;BOCCIA, Antonio
2012

Abstract

Aim: To study differences between public health physicians' and general population's knowledge, attitude, and behaviours towards an influenza pandemic. Methods: During winter 2009, an anonymous questionnaire online (www.ijph.it) of 34 questions was available for participants, structured into three parts: socio-demographic information, people's knowledge, and behaviours about influenza H1N1. Results: 836 persons were interviewed (335 physicians and 501 not physicians). Of these, 50.8% of physicians and 78.1% of not physicians were aged less than 50 years and 57.6% of physicians and 31.7% of not physicians were male. Physicians were more interested to be updated about the pandemic (90.6% versus 88.4% of not physicians; p = 0.003); not physicians were more inclined to avoid crowded places (29.7% versus 17.6% of physicians; p < 0.001); and physicians were more prone to get vaccinated (56.4% versus 23.6% of not physicians; p < 0.001). Broadly, physicians had a better ability to deal the pandemic, both for knowledge and behaviours. Particularly, a significant difference (p < 0.001) was found concerning the principle source of information on the pandemic, for physicians being the internet (41.5%), followed by the health facilities' internal communication (33.1%), while for not physicians being watching the national television news (34.1%) and surfing the internet (30.9%). Conclusions: During the spread of the pandemic flu, a lot of information was propagated chaotically. The information given were not always truthful and often they were interpreted incorrectly or sometimes only partially understood by the population, and this needs to be taken into account for future successful communication in cases of emergency.
2012
attitude; medical doctors; knowledge; behaviours; general population; pandemic influenza
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
Knowledge, attitude, and behaviour of public health doctors towards pandemic influenza compared to the general population in Italy / LA TORRE, Giuseppe; Semyonov, Leda; Mannocci, Alice; Boccia, Antonio. - In: SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH. - ISSN 1403-4948. - STAMPA. - 40:1(2012), pp. 69-75. [10.1177/1403494811424612]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/462146
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