Exploring teachers’ risk perception, self-efficacy and disease prevention measures during the outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus disease in Taiwan

• Published in: Journal of infection and public health Vol. 14; no. 3; pp. 358 - 364
• Main Authors: Tang, Jing-Shia, Chen, Chien-Liang, Lin, Chih-Hao, Feng, Jui-Ying
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2021; The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Communicable Disease Control; COVID-19; COVID-19 - prevention & control; Cross-Sectional Studies; Disease Outbreaks - prevention & control; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Prevention measures; Response efficacy; Risk perception; School Teachers; Schools; Self Efficacy; Surveys and Questionnaires; Taiwan - epidemiology; Taiwan; COVID-19; CVI; Self-efficacy; GLM; Response efficacy; Prevention measures; Risk perception; ADPM
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jiph.2020.12.021
• ISSN: 1876-0341

The 2019 novel coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19) is one of the most serious health risks facing the global population. Teachers’ responses are important in the management of the outbreak in schools. The purpose of this study is to examine teachers’ risk perception, self-efficacy, response efficacy, and approach to disease prevention during the COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan. A descriptive, cross-sectional online survey was completed by 344 teachers across four levels of education. Pearson correlations between major variables were calculated. General linear model with a posthoc test was used to estimate the least squares means for each level of the independent variables and test the mean differences between the response scores. The teachers with a higher risk perception showed a stronger adoption of disease prevention measures, but they also showed lower self-efficacy. In addition, teachers with higher self-efficacy had higher response efficiency. Female teachers had relatively stronger adoption of disease prevention measures than their male colleagues, and age was associated with a 0.040 point increase in adoption scores. Elementary school teachers were significantly stronger in this regard than teachers at junior high schools, high schools and universities in terms of behavior scores. High implementation rate of Taiwanese teachers’ disease prevention measures came from their higher risk perceptions. Among them, older female teachers, especially those who teach at elementary schools, are key to implementing disease prevention measures.