Impact of a Brief Educational Intervention on Knowledge, Perceived Knowledge, Perceived Safety, and Resilience of the Public During COVID-19 Crisis

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Aug 17;17(16):5971. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17165971.

Abstract

Extraordinary and unprecedented public health measures have been implemented to contain the ongoing spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. There is paramount importance of cooperation and population engagement in reducing disease infection rates and relieving an outbreak's burden on society. The civil society's engagement may be achieved through disaster education interventions. In this cross-sectional study, a pre-post questionnaire was used to investigate the impact of a brief educational intervention on knowledge, perceived knowledge, perceived safety, and the individual resilience of the population relating to the COVID-19 outbreak. The results of the study display the benefits of the educational intervention to include a significant overall increase in all examined variables. The study also reviewed the overall trust of the public concerning the main responding authorities, as well as practices concerning protective measures for COVID-19. This study demonstrates that educational interventions, such as the brief video, provide an easily implementable design and effective means for educating and empowering the public and should, thus, be considered as a component of future outbreak responses.

Keywords: COVID-19; educational intervention; knowledge; pandemic; practices; resilience; trust.

MeSH terms

  • Betacoronavirus / isolation & purification*
  • COVID-19
  • Coronavirus Infections / prevention & control*
  • Coronavirus Infections / virology
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Disease Outbreaks
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice*
  • Humans
  • Pandemics / prevention & control*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / prevention & control*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / virology
  • Public Health*
  • Resilience, Psychological*
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Trust