ArticlePloS one2020
A national cross-sectional survey of public perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemic: Self-reported beliefs, knowledge, and behaviors.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
54 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 116 citations in OpenAlex.
- Global epidemiology of COVID-19 knowledge, attitude and practice: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2021Pooled it
- Trial
- Patterns of compliance with COVID-19 preventive measures in Armenia: results from a cross-sectional survey.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Predictors of mask-wearing behavior in Armenia during the COVID-19 pandemic: results from a nationwide survey.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Exploring pandemic preparedness through public perception and its impact on health service quality, attitudes, and healthcare image.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Assessing the Dissemination of Federal Risk Communication by News Media Outlets During Enteric Illness Outbreaks: Canadian Content Analysis.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2025Article
- COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: A Cross-Sectional Study of Visible Minority Canadian Communities.Vaccines · 2025Article
- Knowledge of COVID-19 and associated factors among kidney transplant recipients and donors in Singapore.Singapore medical journal · 2025Article
- Article
- Impact Analysis of COVID-19 Pandemic on Hospital Reviews on Dianping Website in Shanghai, China: Empirical Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Predicting COVID-19 vaccination uptake in Armenia using the Health Belief Model: Results from a nationwide survey.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2023Article
- Suspecting the Figures: What Church Leaders Think About Government's Commitment to Combating COVID-19 in Nigeria.Journal of Asian and African studies · 2023Article
- American Singles' Attitudes Toward Future Romantic/Sexual Partners' COVID-19 Vaccination Status: Evidence for both Vigilance and Indifference in a National Sample.Sexuality & culture · 2023Article
- Canadian public perceptions and experiences with information during the COVID-19 pandemic: strategies to optimize future risk communications.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Stigmatization in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: a survey experiment using attribution theory and the familiarity hypothesis.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Exploring the influence of behavioural, normative and control beliefs on intentions to adhere to public health guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative interview based study.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Obesity and adverse childhood experiences in relation to stress during the COVID-19 pandemic: an analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2023Article
- The Effect of Publicly Available COVID-19 Information on the Functioning of Society, Businesses, Government and Local Institutions: A Case Study from Poland.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- General Population's Psychological Perceptions of COVID-19: A Systematic Review.Psychology research and behavior management · 2023Review
- Irish Media Coverage of COVID-19 Evidence-Based Research Reports From One National Agency.International journal of health policy and management · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
16 authors at 6 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionEfforts to mitigate the global spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing Corona Virus Disease-19 (COVID-19) have largely relied on broad compliance with public health recommendations yet navigating the high volume of evolving information can be challenging. We assessed self-reported public perceptions related to COVID-19 including, beliefs (e.g., severity, concerns, health), knowledge (e.g., transmission, information sources), and behaviors (e.g., physical distancing) to understand perspectives in Canada and to inform future public health initiatives.
methodsWe administered a national online survey aiming to obtain responses from 2000 adults in Canada. Respondent sampling was stratified by age, sex, and region. We used descriptive statistics to summarize responses and tested for regional differences using chi-squared tests, followed by weighted logistic regression.
resultsWe collected 1,996 eligible questionnaires between April 26th and May 1st, 2020. One-fifth (20%) of respondents knew someone diagnosed with COVID-19, but few had tested positive themselves (0.6%). Negative impacts of pandemic conditions were evidenced in several areas, including concerns about healthcare (e.g. sufficient equipment, 52%), pandemic stress (45%), and worsening social (49%) and mental/emotional (39%) health. Most respondents (88%) felt they had good to excellent knowledge of virus transmission, and predominantly accessed (74%) and trusted (60%) Canadian news television, newspapers/magazines, or non-government news websites for COVID-19 information. We found high compliance with distancing measures (80% reported self-isolating or always physical distancing). We identified associations between region and self-reported beliefs, knowledge, and behaviors related to COVID-19. DISCUSSION: We found that information about COVID-19 is largely acquired through domestic news sources, which may explain high self-reported compliance with prevention measures. The results highlight the broader impact of a pandemic on the general public's overall health and wellbeing, outside of personal infection. The study findings should be used to inform public health communications during COVID-19 and future pandemics.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.