Gender differences in COVID-19 knowledge, risk perception, and public stigma among the general community: Findings from a nationwide cross-sectional study in India

A Stephen; Saritha Nair; Aparna Joshi; Sumit Aggarwal; Tulsi Adhikari; Vishal Diwan; Kangjam Rekha Devi; Bijaya Kumar Mishra; Girijesh Kumar Yadav; Damodar Sahu; Bal Kishan Gulati; Saurabh Sharma; Jeetendra Yadav; Senthanro Ovung; Chetna Duggal; Moina Sharma; Sampada Dipak Bangar; Pricilla B Rebecca; S Rani; Pradeep Selvaraj; Gladston G Xavier; Vanessa Peter; Basilea Watson; T Kannan; K S M D Asmathulla; Debdutta Bhattacharya; Jyotirmayee Turuk; Subrata Kumar Palo; Srikanta Kanungo; Ajit Kumar Behera; Ashok Kumar Pandey; Kamran Zaman; BrijRanjan Misra; Niraj Kumar; SthitaPragnya Behera; Rajeev Singh; Kanwar Narain; Rajni Kant; Seema Sahay; RajnarayanRamshankar Tiwari; Beena Elizabeth Thomas; N Karikalan; Samiran Panda; M Vishnu Vardhana Rao; Dhammsagar Ujagare; Sneha Chinchore

doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.103776

Gender differences in COVID-19 knowledge, risk perception, and public stigma among the general community: Findings from a nationwide cross-sectional study in India

Int J Disaster Risk Reduct. 2023 Jul:93:103776. doi: 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.103776. Epub 2023 May 30.

Authors

A Stephen¹, Saritha Nair², Aparna Joshi³, Sumit Aggarwal⁴, Tulsi Adhikari², Vishal Diwan⁵, Kangjam Rekha Devi⁶, Bijaya Kumar Mishra⁷, Girijesh Kumar Yadav⁸, Damodar Sahu², Bal Kishan Gulati², Saurabh Sharma², Jeetendra Yadav², Senthanro Ovung², Chetna Duggal³, Moina Sharma⁹, Sampada Dipak Bangar¹⁰, Pricilla B Rebecca¹, S Rani¹, Pradeep Selvaraj¹¹, Gladston G Xavier¹², Vanessa Peter¹³, Basilea Watson¹⁴, T Kannan^{14

15}, K S M D Asmathulla¹⁶, Debdutta Bhattacharya¹⁷, Jyotirmayee Turuk¹⁷, Subrata Kumar Palo^{17

18}, Srikanta Kanungo^{17

18}, Ajit Kumar Behera¹⁹, Ashok Kumar Pandey⁸, Kamran Zaman⁸, BrijRanjan Misra⁸, Niraj Kumar⁸, SthitaPragnya Behera⁸, Rajeev Singh⁸, Kanwar Narain²⁰, Rajni Kant^{8

21}, Seema Sahay²², RajnarayanRamshankar Tiwari²³, Beena Elizabeth Thomas¹, N Karikalan¹, Samiran Panda⁴, M Vishnu Vardhana Rao², Dhammsagar Ujagare²², Sneha Chinchore²²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Social and Behavioral Research, ICMR-National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai, India.
² ICMR-National Institute of Medical Statistics, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India.
³ School of Human Ecology, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India.
⁴ Division of Epidemiology & Communicable Diseases, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India.
⁵ Division of Environmental Monitoring & Exposure Assessment (Water & Soil), ICMR- National Institute for Research in Environmental Health, Bhopal, India.
⁶ Divison of Enteric Disease, ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, NE Region, Dibrugarh, Assam, India.
⁷ Department of Medical, ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
⁸ ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India.
⁹ Department of Environmental Health & Epidemiology, ICMR- National Institute for Research in Environmental Health, Bhopal, India.
¹⁰ Divisions of Epidemiology and Statistics, ICMR-National AIDS Research Institute, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
¹¹ Office of District Non-Communicable Disease, Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Chennai, India.
¹² Department of Social Work, Loyola College, Chennai, India.
¹³ Informational & Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities, Chennai, India.
¹⁴ Electronic Data Processing Unit, ICMR-National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai, India.
¹⁵ Epidemiology and Statistics Unit, ICMR-National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai, India.
¹⁶ Integrated People Development Project Trust, Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu, India.
¹⁷ Department of Microbiology, ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
¹⁸ Department of Epidemiology, ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
¹⁹ Department of Clinical, ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
²⁰ ICMR-Regional Medical Research Centre, NE Region, Dibrugarh, Assam, India.
²¹ Research Management, Policy, Planning and Coordination Cell, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India.
²² Social &Behavioral Research, ICMR-National AIDS Research Institute, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
²³ ICMR-National Institute for Research in Environmental Health, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Abstract

Introduction: Individual and community characteristics predictive of knowledge, perception, and attitude on COVID-19, specifically on gender, have not been adequately explored.

Objective: To examine the gender differences in COVID-19 knowledge, self-risk perception and public stigma among the general community and to understand other socio-demographic factors which were predictive of them.

Method: A nationally representative cross-sectional multi-centric survey was conducted among adult individuals(≥18 yrs) from the community member (N = 1978) from six states and one union territory of India between August 2020 to February 2021. The participants were selected using systematic random sampling. The data were collected telephonically using pilot-tested structured questionnaires and were analyzed using STATA. Gender-segregated multivariable analysis was conducted to identify statistically significant predictors (p < 0.05) of COVID-19-related knowledge, risk perception, and public stigma in the community.

Results: Study identified significant differences between males and females in their self-risk perception (22.0% & 18.2% respectively) and stigmatizing attitude (55.3% & 47.1% respectively). Highly educated males and females had higher odds of having COVID-19 knowledge (aOR: 16.83: p < 0.05) than illiterates. Highly educated women had higher odds of having self-risk perception (aOR: 2.6; p < 0.05) but lower public stigma [aOR: 0.57; p < 0.05]. Male rural residents had lower odds of having self-risk perception and knowledge [aOR: 0.55; p < 0.05 & aOR: 0.72; p < 0.05] and female rural residents had higher odds of having public stigma [aOR: 1.36; p < 0.05].

Conclusion: Our study findings suggest the importance of considering thegender differentials and their background, education status and residential status in designing effective interventions to improve knowledge and reduce risk perception and stigma in the community about COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; Gender; India; Knowledge; Public stigma; Self-risk perception.