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Stephen A, Nair S, Joshi A, Aggarwal S, Adhikari T, Diwan V, Devi KR, Mishra BK, Yadav GK, Sahu D, Gulati BK, Sharma S, Yadav J, Ovung S, Duggal C, Sharma M, Bangar SD, Rebecca PB, Rani S, Selvaraj P, Xavier GG, Peter V, Watson B, Kannan T, Asmathulla KSMD, Bhattacharya D, Turuk J, Palo SK, Kanungo S, Behera AK, Pandey AK, Zaman K, Misra B, Kumar N, Behera S, Singh R, Narain K, Kant R, Sahay S, Tiwari R, Thomas BE, Karikalan N, Panda S, Vardhana Rao MV, Ujagare D, Chinchore S. Gender differences in COVID-19 knowledge, risk perception, and public stigma among the general community: Findings from a nationwide cross-sectional study in India. Int J Disaster Risk Reduct 2023; 93:103776. [PMID: 37303828 PMCID: PMC10229202 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.103776] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2022] [Revised: 04/10/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Introduction Individual and community characteristics predictive of knowledge, perception, and attitude on COVID-19, specifically on gender, have not been adequately explored. Objective To examine the gender differences in COVID-19 knowledge, self-risk perception and public stigma among the general community and to understand other socio-demographic factors which were predictive of them. Method A nationally representative cross-sectional multi-centric survey was conducted among adult individuals(≥18 yrs) from the community member (N = 1978) from six states and one union territory of India between August 2020 to February 2021. The participants were selected using systematic random sampling. The data were collected telephonically using pilot-tested structured questionnaires and were analyzed using STATA. Gender-segregated multivariable analysis was conducted to identify statistically significant predictors (p < 0.05) of COVID-19-related knowledge, risk perception, and public stigma in the community. Results Study identified significant differences between males and females in their self-risk perception (22.0% & 18.2% respectively) and stigmatizing attitude (55.3% & 47.1% respectively). Highly educated males and females had higher odds of having COVID-19 knowledge (aOR: 16.83: p < 0.05) than illiterates. Highly educated women had higher odds of having self-risk perception (aOR: 2.6; p < 0.05) but lower public stigma [aOR: 0.57; p < 0.05]. Male rural residents had lower odds of having self-risk perception and knowledge [aOR: 0.55; p < 0.05 & aOR: 0.72; p < 0.05] and female rural residents had higher odds of having public stigma [aOR: 1.36; p < 0.05]. Conclusion Our study findings suggest the importance of considering thegender differentials and their background, education status and residential status in designing effective interventions to improve knowledge and reduce risk perception and stigma in the community about COVID-19.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Stephen
- Department of Social and Behavioral Research, ICMR-National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai, India
| | - Saritha Nair
- ICMR-National Institute of Medical Statistics, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
| | - Aparna Joshi
- School of Human Ecology, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India
| | - Sumit Aggarwal
- Division of Epidemiology & Communicable Diseases, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
| | - Tulsi Adhikari
- ICMR-National Institute of Medical Statistics, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
| | - Vishal Diwan
- Division of Environmental Monitoring & Exposure Assessment (Water & Soil), ICMR- National Institute for Research in Environmental Health, Bhopal, India
| | - Kangjam Rekha Devi
- Divison of Enteric Disease, ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, NE Region, Dibrugarh, Assam, India
| | - Bijaya Kumar Mishra
- Department of Medical, ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
| | | | - Damodar Sahu
- ICMR-National Institute of Medical Statistics, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
| | - Bal Kishan Gulati
- ICMR-National Institute of Medical Statistics, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
| | - Saurabh Sharma
- ICMR-National Institute of Medical Statistics, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
| | - Jeetendra Yadav
- ICMR-National Institute of Medical Statistics, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
| | - Senthanro Ovung
- ICMR-National Institute of Medical Statistics, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
| | - Chetna Duggal
- School of Human Ecology, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India
| | - Moina Sharma
- Department of Environmental Health & Epidemiology, ICMR- National Institute for Research in Environmental Health, Bhopal, India
| | - Sampada Dipak Bangar
- Divisions of Epidemiology and Statistics, ICMR-National AIDS Research Institute, Pune, Maharashtra, India
| | - Pricilla B Rebecca
- Department of Social and Behavioral Research, ICMR-National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai, India
| | - S Rani
- Department of Social and Behavioral Research, ICMR-National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai, India
| | - Pradeep Selvaraj
- Office of District Non-Communicable Disease, Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Chennai, India
| | | | - Vanessa Peter
- Informational & Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities, Chennai, India
| | - Basilea Watson
- Electronic Data Processing Unit, ICMR-National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai, India
| | - T Kannan
- Electronic Data Processing Unit, ICMR-National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai, India
- Epidemiology and Statistics Unit, ICMR-National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai, India
| | - K S M D Asmathulla
- Integrated People Development Project Trust, Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu, India
| | - Debdutta Bhattacharya
- Department of Microbiology, ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
| | - Jyotirmayee Turuk
- Department of Microbiology, ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
| | - Subrata Kumar Palo
- Department of Microbiology, ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
- Department of Epidemiology, ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
| | - Srikanta Kanungo
- Department of Microbiology, ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
- Department of Epidemiology, ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
| | - Ajit Kumar Behera
- Department of Clinical, ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
| | | | - Kamran Zaman
- ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - BrijRanjan Misra
- ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Niraj Kumar
- ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | | | - Rajeev Singh
- ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
| | - Kanwar Narain
- ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, NE Region, Dibrugarh, Assam, India
| | - Rajni Kant
- ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India
- Research Management, Policy, Planning and Coordination Cell, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
| | - Seema Sahay
- Social &Behavioral Research, ICMR-National AIDS Research Institute, Pune, Maharashtra, India
| | | | - Beena Elizabeth Thomas
- Department of Social and Behavioral Research, ICMR-National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai, India
| | - N Karikalan
- Department of Social and Behavioral Research, ICMR-National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai, India
| | - Samiran Panda
- Division of Epidemiology & Communicable Diseases, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
| | - M Vishnu Vardhana Rao
- ICMR-National Institute of Medical Statistics, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India
| | - Dhammsagar Ujagare
- Social &Behavioral Research, ICMR-National AIDS Research Institute, Pune, Maharashtra, India
| | - Sneha Chinchore
- Social &Behavioral Research, ICMR-National AIDS Research Institute, Pune, Maharashtra, India
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