TY - JOUR
T1 - Behavior change due to COVID-19 among dental academics - The theory of planned behavior
T2 - Stresses, worries, training, and pandemic severity
AU - Ammar, Nour
AU - Aly, Nourhan M.
AU - Folayan, Morenike O.
AU - Khader, Yousef
AU - Virtanen, Jorma I.
AU - Al-Batayneh, Ola B.
AU - Mohebbi, Simin Z.
AU - Attia, Sameh
AU - Howaldt, Hans Peter
AU - Boettger, Sebastian
AU - Maharani, Diah A.
AU - Rahardjo, Anton
AU - Khan, Imran
AU - Madi, Marwa
AU - Rashwan, Maher
AU - Pavlic, Verica
AU - Cicmil, Smiljka
AU - Choi, Youn Hee
AU - Joury, Easter
AU - Castillo, Jorge L.
AU - Noritake, Kanako
AU - Shamala, Anas
AU - Galluccio, Gabriella
AU - Polimeni, Antonella
AU - Phantumvanit, Prathip
AU - Mancino, Davide
AU - Kim, Jin Bom
AU - Abdelsalam, Maha M.
AU - Arheiam, Arheiam
AU - Dama, Mai A.
AU - Nyan, Myat
AU - Hussein, Iyad
AU - Alkeshan, Mohammad M.
AU - Vukovic, Ana P.
AU - Iandolo, Alfredo
AU - Kemoli, Arthur M.
AU - El Tantawi, Maha
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Ammar 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.
PY - 2020/9
Y1 - 2020/9
N2 - Objective COVID-19 pandemic led to major life changes. We assessed the psychological impact of COVID-19 on dental academics globally and on changes in their behaviors. Methods We invited dental academics to complete a cross-sectional, online survey from March to May 2020. The survey was based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The survey collected data on participants' stress levels (using the Impact of Event Scale), attitude (fears, and worries because of COVID-19 extracted by Principal Component Analysis (PCA), perceived control (resulting from training on public health emergencies), norms (country-level COVID-19 fatality rate), and personal and professional backgrounds. We used multilevel regression models to assess the association between the study outcome variables (frequent handwashing and avoidance of crowded places) and explanatory variables (stress, attitude, perceived control and norms). Results 1862 academics from 28 countries participated in the survey (response rate = 11.3%). Of those, 53.4% were female, 32.9% were <46 years old and 9.9% had severe stress. PCA extracted three main factors: fear of infection, worries because of professional responsibilities, and worries because of restricted mobility. These factors had significant dosedependent association with stress and were significantly associated with more frequent handwashing by dental academics (B = 0.56, 0.33, and 0.34) and avoiding crowded places (B = 0.55, 0.30, and 0.28). Low country fatality rates were significantly associated with more handwashing (B = -2.82) and avoiding crowded places (B = -6.61). Training on public health emergencies was not significantly associated with behavior change (B = -0.01 and -0.11). Conclusions COVID-19 had a considerable psychological impact on dental academics. There was a direct, dose-dependent association between change in behaviors and worries but no association between these changes and training on public health emergencies. More change in behaviors was associated with lower country COVID-19 fatality rates. Fears and stresses were associated with greater adoption of preventive measures against the pandemic.
AB - Objective COVID-19 pandemic led to major life changes. We assessed the psychological impact of COVID-19 on dental academics globally and on changes in their behaviors. Methods We invited dental academics to complete a cross-sectional, online survey from March to May 2020. The survey was based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The survey collected data on participants' stress levels (using the Impact of Event Scale), attitude (fears, and worries because of COVID-19 extracted by Principal Component Analysis (PCA), perceived control (resulting from training on public health emergencies), norms (country-level COVID-19 fatality rate), and personal and professional backgrounds. We used multilevel regression models to assess the association between the study outcome variables (frequent handwashing and avoidance of crowded places) and explanatory variables (stress, attitude, perceived control and norms). Results 1862 academics from 28 countries participated in the survey (response rate = 11.3%). Of those, 53.4% were female, 32.9% were <46 years old and 9.9% had severe stress. PCA extracted three main factors: fear of infection, worries because of professional responsibilities, and worries because of restricted mobility. These factors had significant dosedependent association with stress and were significantly associated with more frequent handwashing by dental academics (B = 0.56, 0.33, and 0.34) and avoiding crowded places (B = 0.55, 0.30, and 0.28). Low country fatality rates were significantly associated with more handwashing (B = -2.82) and avoiding crowded places (B = -6.61). Training on public health emergencies was not significantly associated with behavior change (B = -0.01 and -0.11). Conclusions COVID-19 had a considerable psychological impact on dental academics. There was a direct, dose-dependent association between change in behaviors and worries but no association between these changes and training on public health emergencies. More change in behaviors was associated with lower country COVID-19 fatality rates. Fears and stresses were associated with greater adoption of preventive measures against the pandemic.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85092200149
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0239961
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0239961
M3 - Article
C2 - 32991611
AN - SCOPUS:85092200149
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 15
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
IS - 9 September
M1 - e0239961
ER -
SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being