Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jul:96:371-375.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.05.039. Epub 2020 May 17.

Changes in implementation of personal protective measures by ordinary Japanese citizens: A longitudinal study from the early phase to the community transmission phase of the COVID-19 outbreak

Masaki Machida  1 , Itaru Nakamura  2 , Reiko Saito  3 , Tomoki Nakaya  4 , Tomoya Hanibuchi  4 , Tomoko Takamiya  5 , Yuko Odagiri  5 , Noritoshi Fukushima  5 , Hiroyuki Kikuchi  5 , Shiho Amagasa  5 , Takako Kojima  6 , Hidehiro Watanabe  2 , Shigeru Inoue  7
Affiliations

Changes in implementation of personal protective measures by ordinary Japanese citizens: A longitudinal study from the early phase to the community transmission phase of the COVID-19 outbreak

Masaki Machida et al. Int J Infect Dis. 2020 Jul.

Abstract

Objectives: To clarify changes in the implementation of personal protective measures among ordinary Japanese citizens from the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak to the community transmission phase.

Methods: This longitudinal, internet-based survey included 2141 people (50.8% men; 20-79 years). The baseline and follow-up surveys were conducted from February 25-27, 2020, and April 1-6, 2020, respectively. Participants were asked how often they implemented the five personal protective measures recommended by the World Health Organization (hand hygiene, social distancing, avoiding touching the eyes, nose and mouth, respiratory etiquette, and self-isolation) in the baseline and follow-up surveys.

Results: Three of the five personal protective measures' availability significantly improved during the community transmission phase compared to the early phase. Social distancing measures showed significant improvement, from 67.4% to 82.2%. However, the prevalence of avoiding touching the eyes, nose, and mouth, which had the lowest prevalence in the early phase, showed no significant improvement (approximately 60%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that men and persons of low-income households made fewer improvements than women and persons of high-income households.

Conclusions: The availability of personal protective measures by ordinary citizens is improving; however, there is potential for improvement, especially concerning avoiding touching eyes, nose, and mouth.

Keywords: Behavior change; COVID-19; Pandemic; Protective measures; Public health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Figure 1
Figure 1
The baseline survey and follow-up survey: the prevalence of each personal protective measure recommended by the WHO. When the participant replied “Always,” “Sometimes,” or “Definitely can,” or “Probably can” (in the case of self-isolation) for each personal preventive measure, it was considered that the personal protective measure was being implemented. The McNemar test was performed to compare the prevalence of each personal protective measure. ＊: p-value = <0.001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Betsch C., Wieler L.H., Habersaat K., COSMO group Monitoring behavioural insights related to COVID-19. Lancet. 2020;395(10232):1255–1256. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Blake K.D., Blendon R.J., Viswanath K. Employment and compliance with pandemic influenza mitigation recommendations. Emerg Infect Dis. 2010;16(2):212–218. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Eastwood K., Durrheim D., Francis J.L., d’Espaignet E.T., Duncan S., Islam F. Knowledge about pandemic influenza and compliance with containment measures among Australians. Bull World Health Organ. 2009;87(8):588–594. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (JMHLW) 2020. About coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/newpage_00032.html
    1. Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (JMHLW) 2020. Expert Meeting on the Novel Coronavirus Disease Control Analysis of the Response to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Recommendations (Excerpt)https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/10900000/000611515.pdf