The public's preventive strategies in response to the pandemic influenza A/H1N1 in France: distribution and determinants.
OBJECTIVE
Since the emergence of the pandemic influenza A/H1N1, people were encouraged to adopt a large range of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical measures in order to counter the risk of infection. The aim of this article is to identify and to explain the different types of preventive strategies adopted by the French population.


METHODS
The data are based on a phone survey conducted with a representative sample of the French population (N=1003) in December 2009 (cooperation rate=45.9%). Logistic regressions were used in order to characterize the different preventive behavioral patterns towards the A/H1N1 influenza.


RESULTS
Four types of behavioral strategies have been identified: 31.5% of the respondents combined vaccination (intention or action, regardless of the nature of the vaccine) with non-pharmaceutical measures, 8.8% wanted to get exclusively vaccinated, 42.0% took non-pharmaceutical steps only and 17.7% didn't protect themselves at all. Significant social and cognitive variables were found to predict membership of each group.


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that a large majority of that is mainly population adopted a selective strategy rather than a cumulative one as it was recommended, a choice mostly explained by the level of risk perception.
EHESP School of Public Health, Rennes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France. michel.setbon@ehesp.fr
Michel
M
Setbon
Marie-Clémence
MC
Le Pape
Claire
C
Létroublon
Anne-Laure
AL
Caille-Brillet
Jocelyn
J
Raude
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D053118:Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058873:Pandemics / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D057240:Patient Preference; D011322:Primary Prevention / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D017678:Sex Distribution; D055815:Young Adult