title: Preventive behaviors by the level of perceived infection sensitivity during the Korea outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in 2015.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study was performed to investigate the relationship between community residents' infection sensitivity and their levels of preventive behaviors during the 2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak in Korea.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seven thousands two hundreds eighty one participants from nine areas in Gyeonggi-do including Pyeongtaek, the origin of the outbreak in 2015 agreed to participate in the survey and the data from 6,739 participants were included in the final analysis. The data on the perceived infection sensitivity were subjected to cluster analysis. The levels of stress, reliability/practice of preventive behaviors, hand washing practice and policy credibility during the outbreak period were analyzed for each cluster.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cluster analysis of infection sensitivity due to the MERS outbreak resulted in classification of participants into four groups: the non-sensitive group (14.5%), social concern group (17.4%), neutral group (29.1%), and overall sensitive group (39.0%). A logistic regression analysis found that the overall sensitive group with high sensitivity had higher stress levels (17.80; 95% confidence interval [CI], 13.77 to 23.00), higher reliability on preventive behaviors (5.81; 95% CI, 4.84 to 6.98), higher practice of preventive behaviors (4.53; 95% CI, 3.83 to 5.37) and higher practice of hand washing (2.71; 95% CI, 2.13 to 3.43) during the outbreak period, compared to the non-sensitive group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Infection sensitivity of community residents during the MERS outbreak correlated with gender, age, occupation, and health behaviors. When there is an outbreak in the community, there is need to maintain a certain level of sensitivity while reducing excessive stress, as well as promote the practice of preventive behaviors among local residents. In particular, target groups need to be notified and policies need to be established with a consideration of the socio-demographic characteristics of the community.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
authors.forename: Soon Young
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
authors.forename: Hee Jeong
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
authors.forename: Gawon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon, Korea.
authors.forename: Hae-Kwan
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Cheong
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Bo Youl
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D018352:Coronavirus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D065207:Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cluster analysis; Epidemics; Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus; Risk reduction behavior