Dataset Information

Attitudes and Perceptions Toward COVID-19 Digital Surveillance: Survey of Young Adults in the United States.

ABSTRACT:

Background

COVID-19 is an international health crisis of particular concern in the United States, which saw surges of infections with the lifting of lockdowns and relaxed social distancing. Young adults have proven to be a critical factor for COVID-19 transmission and are an important target of the efforts to contain the pandemic. Scalable digital public health technologies could be deployed to reduce COVID-19 transmission, but their use depends on the willingness of young adults to participate in surveillance.

Objective

The aim of this study is to determine the attitudes of young adults regarding COVID-19 digital surveillance, including which aspects they would accept and which they would not, as well as to determine factors that may be associated with their willingness to participate in digital surveillance.

Methods

We conducted an anonymous online survey of young adults aged 18-24 years throughout the United States in June 2020. The questionnaire contained predominantly closed-ended response options with one open-ended question. Descriptive statistics were applied to the data.

Results

Of 513 young adult respondents, 383 (74.7%) agreed that COVID-19 represents a public health crisis. However, only 231 (45.1%) agreed to actively share their COVID-19 status or symptoms for monitoring and only 171 (33.4%) reported a willingness to allow access to their cell phone for passive location tracking or contact tracing.

Conclusions

Despite largely agreeing that COVID-19 represents a serious public health risk, the majority of young adults sampled were reluctant to participate in digital monitoring to manage the pandemic. This was true for both commonly used methods of public health surveillance (such as contact tracing) and novel methods designed to facilitate a return to normal (such as frequent symptom checking through digital apps). This is a potential obstacle to ongoing containment measures (many of which rely on widespread surveillance) and may reflect a need for greater education on the benefits of public health digital surveillance for young adults.

SUBMITTER: Maytin L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7800905 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Attitudes and Perceptions Toward COVID-19 Digital Surveillance: Survey of Young Adults in the United States.

Maytin Lauren L Maytin Jason J Agarwal Priya P Krenitsky Anna A Krenitsky JoAnn J Epstein Robert S RS

JMIR formative research 20210108 1

<h4>Background</h4>COVID-19 is an international health crisis of particular concern in the United States, which saw surges of infections with the lifting of lockdowns and relaxed social distancing. Young adults have proven to be a critical factor for COVID-19 transmission and are an important target of the efforts to contain the pandemic. Scalable digital public health technologies could be deployed to reduce COVID-19 transmission, but their use depends on the willingness of young adults to part ...[more]

PMID: 33347420

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Project description:BackgroundNicotine pouches containing synthetic nicotine or tobacco-derived nicotine (TDN) are available in the United States. Synthetic nicotine pouches are often marketed as "tobacco-free nicotine" (TFN), which may alter risk perceptions and product appeal. This study examined young adults' perceptions of TFN versus TDN pouches and the associations between product perceptions and TFN pouch awareness, susceptibility, and use, respectively.Aims and methodsIn total 630 young adults (18-25 years) completed an online Qualtrics panels survey in 2021. Participants were informed that TFN pouches contain synthetic nicotine as opposed to TDN. Participants reported on comparative risk perceptions for TFN versus TDN pouches and on TFN pouch awareness, susceptibility, and use. Unadjusted between-group comparisons and adjusted binary logistic regressions were run to examine relationships between product perceptions and TFN pouch awareness, susceptibility, and use.ResultsParticipants were aware of (37.3%), susceptible to (29.2%), or had used TFN pouches (3.8%). In unadjusted comparisons, TFN pouch awareness, susceptibility, and use were associated with disproportionately perceiving TFN pouches as less harmful or otherwise better than TDN pouches. In adjusted models, relationships between favorable perceptions and both TFN pouch awareness and susceptibility remained significant.ConclusionsThe descriptor "tobacco-free" may impact risk perceptions and the appeal of nicotine pouches among young adults. While no direct relationship was observed between TFN perceptions and TFN pouch use in the adjusted model, perceptions remained related to product awareness and susceptibility, which may be linked to future use. Continued surveillance is needed to fully determine how the term "tobacco-free" on product packaging and advertising impacts longitudinal public health outcomes.ImplicationsNicotine pouches originally contained TDN. Today, numerous brands of synthetic nicotine pouches, which are often marketed as "tobacco-free," are available on the market. We informed participants that "tobacco-free nicotine" pouches contain synthetic nicotine and examined comparative risk perceptions (i.e. tobacco-free vs. TDN pouches) and TFN pouch awareness, susceptibility, and use. Perceiving tobacco-free nicotine pouches as less harmful than tobacco-derived pouches was associated with product awareness, susceptibility, and use in unadjusted models and with awareness and susceptibility in adjusted models. Restricting the term "tobacco-free" may become necessary if the term inaccurately reduces product risk perceptions or increases product appeal.

Dataset Information

Attitudes and Perceptions Toward COVID-19 Digital Surveillance: Survey of Young Adults in the United States.

Background

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Attitudes and Perceptions Toward COVID-19 Digital Surveillance: Survey of Young Adults in the United States.

Similar Datasets

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