Since the first case of COVID-19 was detected in December 2019, the world has experienced a pandemic of unprecedented proportions. While the development of vaccines against the disease became high priority, many countries were trying to reduce the impact and the burden on healthcare systems by implementing infection prevention and control measures. These measures are flexible, and can be adapted based on the severity of the outbreak that a country is experiencing at a given moment in time. However, the effectiveness of such measures is for a large part determined by the ability and willingness of the population to adhere to them. For Belgium, which has experienced a high infection rate over the year, there was no clear insight in overall adherence to the measures, reasons for (non)adherence, and subgroups of the population that are less likely to adhere.
This article presents the results of a panel-based internet survey, that addressed a sample of respondents (n=2.008), representative for the adult Belgian population in terms of age, sex, region and socio-economic status. The questionnaire was developed by researchers with backgrounds in social sciences, epidemiology, health promotion and psychology. It was guided by the Protection Motivation Theory. Data were collected in September 2020. The detailed methodological design and results may be consulted through the following link: https://dial.uclouvain.be/pr/boreal/object/boreal:241832.
The results which are summarised hereafter were presented on Decembre 17th, 2020 in a webinar organised by Fondation Louvain, who supported study: https://uclouvain.be/fr/chercher/fondation-louvain/webinaires.html.
Key Words
COVID-19, Prevention and control measures, Adherence, Sample-based survey, Belgium