Older adults' perceptions of government handling of COVID-19: predictors of protective behaviors from lockdown to post-lockdown
Background: Distrust, and more broadly, public perception of government’s handling of a crisis, has been a widely studied topic within health crisis research and suggests that these perceptions are significantly associated with the behavior of its citizens. Purpose: To understand which aspects of th...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2022
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/163097 |
| _version_ | 1826125019822948352 |
|---|---|
| author | Siew, Savannah Kiah Hui Chia, Jonathan Louis Mahendran, Rathi Yu, Junhong |
| author2 | School of Social Sciences |
| author_facet | School of Social Sciences Siew, Savannah Kiah Hui Chia, Jonathan Louis Mahendran, Rathi Yu, Junhong |
| author_sort | Siew, Savannah Kiah Hui |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Background: Distrust, and more broadly, public perception of government’s handling of a crisis, has been a widely studied topic within health crisis research and suggests that these perceptions are significantly associated with the behavior of its citizens. Purpose: To understand which aspects of the public’s perception of government handling of the COVID-19 pandemic predicted engagement of protective behaviors among older adults, who are the most vulnerable to COVID-19. Methods: Participants were recruited from an ongoing biopsychosocial study on aging amongst community-dwelling older adults. There were two rounds of data collection, during the national lockdown and post-lockdown. The average length of follow-up was 5.88 months. N = 421 completed the first round of data collection and N = 318 subsequently completed the second round of questionnaires. Results: During the lockdown, perceptions that pandemic-related measures in place were sufficient, effective, timely, provided a sense of safety, important information was easily accessible, and government handling of the pandemic could be trusted, were found to significantly predict engagement in protective behaviors. During post-lockdown, only perceptions that measures in place were sufficient, provided a sense of safety, and important information was easily accessible, remained significant predictors. The perception that COVID-19 measures were clear and easy to understand now became a significant predictor. Conclusions: Public perceptions of government handling of the pandemic predicted engagement in protective behaviors but were less important during post-lockdown. To effectively engage older adults in protective behavior, our findings suggest for pandemic-related information to be accessible, introducing timely safety measures, and having easy-to-understand instructions for nuanced measures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T06:29:53Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/163097 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T06:29:53Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1630972023-03-05T15:33:28Z Older adults' perceptions of government handling of COVID-19: predictors of protective behaviors from lockdown to post-lockdown Siew, Savannah Kiah Hui Chia, Jonathan Louis Mahendran, Rathi Yu, Junhong School of Social Sciences Social sciences::Psychology COVID-19 Community Dwelling Person Background: Distrust, and more broadly, public perception of government’s handling of a crisis, has been a widely studied topic within health crisis research and suggests that these perceptions are significantly associated with the behavior of its citizens. Purpose: To understand which aspects of the public’s perception of government handling of the COVID-19 pandemic predicted engagement of protective behaviors among older adults, who are the most vulnerable to COVID-19. Methods: Participants were recruited from an ongoing biopsychosocial study on aging amongst community-dwelling older adults. There were two rounds of data collection, during the national lockdown and post-lockdown. The average length of follow-up was 5.88 months. N = 421 completed the first round of data collection and N = 318 subsequently completed the second round of questionnaires. Results: During the lockdown, perceptions that pandemic-related measures in place were sufficient, effective, timely, provided a sense of safety, important information was easily accessible, and government handling of the pandemic could be trusted, were found to significantly predict engagement in protective behaviors. During post-lockdown, only perceptions that measures in place were sufficient, provided a sense of safety, and important information was easily accessible, remained significant predictors. The perception that COVID-19 measures were clear and easy to understand now became a significant predictor. Conclusions: Public perceptions of government handling of the pandemic predicted engagement in protective behaviors but were less important during post-lockdown. To effectively engage older adults in protective behavior, our findings suggest for pandemic-related information to be accessible, introducing timely safety measures, and having easy-to-understand instructions for nuanced measures. Published version This work was supported by Research Donations from Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple and Lee Kim Tah Holdings Pte Ltd, under the Mind-Science Center at National University of Singapore. 2022-11-21T06:04:58Z 2022-11-21T06:04:58Z 2022 Journal Article Siew, S. K. H., Chia, J. L., Mahendran, R. & Yu, J. (2022). Older adults' perceptions of government handling of COVID-19: predictors of protective behaviors from lockdown to post-lockdown. PloS One, 17(2), e0263039-. https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0263039 1932-6203 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/163097 10.1371/journal.pone.0263039 35108322 2-s2.0-85124007153 2 17 e0263039 en PloS one © 2022 Kiah Hui Siew et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Social sciences::Psychology COVID-19 Community Dwelling Person Siew, Savannah Kiah Hui Chia, Jonathan Louis Mahendran, Rathi Yu, Junhong Older adults' perceptions of government handling of COVID-19: predictors of protective behaviors from lockdown to post-lockdown |
| title | Older adults' perceptions of government handling of COVID-19: predictors of protective behaviors from lockdown to post-lockdown |
| title_full | Older adults' perceptions of government handling of COVID-19: predictors of protective behaviors from lockdown to post-lockdown |
| title_fullStr | Older adults' perceptions of government handling of COVID-19: predictors of protective behaviors from lockdown to post-lockdown |
| title_full_unstemmed | Older adults' perceptions of government handling of COVID-19: predictors of protective behaviors from lockdown to post-lockdown |
| title_short | Older adults' perceptions of government handling of COVID-19: predictors of protective behaviors from lockdown to post-lockdown |
| title_sort | older adults perceptions of government handling of covid 19 predictors of protective behaviors from lockdown to post lockdown |
| topic | Social sciences::Psychology COVID-19 Community Dwelling Person |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/163097 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT siewsavannahkiahhui olderadultsperceptionsofgovernmenthandlingofcovid19predictorsofprotectivebehaviorsfromlockdowntopostlockdown AT chiajonathanlouis olderadultsperceptionsofgovernmenthandlingofcovid19predictorsofprotectivebehaviorsfromlockdowntopostlockdown AT mahendranrathi olderadultsperceptionsofgovernmenthandlingofcovid19predictorsofprotectivebehaviorsfromlockdowntopostlockdown AT yujunhong olderadultsperceptionsofgovernmenthandlingofcovid19predictorsofprotectivebehaviorsfromlockdowntopostlockdown |