title: Predicting the lay preventive strategies in response to avian influenza from perceptions of the threat.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The identification of patterns of behaviors that lay people would engage in to protect themselves from the risk of infection in the case of avian influenza outbreak, as well as the lay perceptions of the threat that underlie these risk reduction strategies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A population-based survey (N = 1003) was conducted in 2008 to understand and describe how the French public might respond to a possible outbreak. Factor analyses highlighted three main categories of risk reduction strategies consisting of food quality assurance, food avoidance, and animal avoidance. In combination with the fear of contracting avian influenza, mental representations associated with the manifestation and/or transmission of the disease were found to significantly and systematically shape the behavioral responses to the perceived threat.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This survey provides insight into the nature and predictors of the protective patterns that might be expected from the general public during a novel domestic outbreak of avian influenza.
authors.affiliation: EHESP School of Public Health, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Rennes, France. Jocelyn.Raude@ehesp.fr
authors.forename: Jocelyn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Raude
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Setbon
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004189:Disaster Planning; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control*; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control; D053124:Influenza A Virus, H5N1 Subtype / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology* / Q000635:transmission; D010465:Perception; D015980:Public Health Practice; D055815:Young Adult