Evaluation of Risk Perception of COVID-19 Disease: A Community-Based Participatory Study

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective: How people behave in a crisis depends on their understanding and evaluation of risk and vulnerability. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the Iranians’ risk perception of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Methods: An online survey was applied, which resulted in the collection of information on demographics, the 5 dimensions of risk perception (cognitive, political, social, cultural, and emotional), and trust in the government among the Iranian users of social networks. Data were analyzed by descriptive and analytical tests of SPSS (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY) software, and confirmatory factor analysis of Amos software. Results: A total of 364 persons from 20 provinces completed the questionnaire during February 25 to March 2, 2020. More than 80% of the participants believed that negligence and lack of close supervision of the authorities have led to the spread of COVID-19. The mean (SD) risk perception was 58.77 (± 10.11), indicating the medium level of risk perception of people. The second-order confirmatory factor analysis also indicated that cultural dimension had the highest positive correlation (0.96), emotional dimension had the highest negative correlation (-0.65), and social dimension had the least correlation with the risk perception model (0.08). Conclusion: Iranians’ risk perception of the COVID-19 outbreak is not optimal, and it seems necessary to improve it.