Does perception of the Zika virus mediate socioeconomic differences on the employment of measures of prevention and care?

• Autor(a) principal: Raquel Zanatta Coutinho
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: Gilvan Ramalho Guedes, Marina Alves Amorim, Wesley Henrique Silva Pereira, Bruna Firmino
• Tipo de documento: Artigo de conferência
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFMG
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/1843/54265; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2841-1480; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8231-238X; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3893-8200; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0759-3297; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7656-9285
• topic: Zika virus; Health Behavior Model; Social Representation; Homophily; Preventive measures; Vírus da Zika; Representações sociais

Previous study found that the perceptions regarding the Zika virus (ZIKV) are likely to be shaped by person‟s own experiences with the disease. For example, people who have been infected by ZIKV associate the disease with its most common symptoms, such as pain and rash. The perception of the virus, however, may vary by gender and SES. Using novel survey data collected in Governador Valadares, Brazil (a hotspot for vector-borne diseases), we evaluate if the meaning people attribute to the ZIKV varies according to their sociodemographic differences and mediates the way they employ measures of prevention and care amidst the ZIKV epidemics. Using a combination of Pearson Chi Square, Exponential Random Graph Models and count regression, we found that individual perception about ZIKV is shaped by gender and alter the employment of self-protection measures against the mosquito. Education does not shape perception regarding Zika, but change the odds of applying certain measures against the disease. Previous history of infection is the single most important element for applying measures of protection. We also find that sociodemographic groups (gender and education) tend to think alike regarding the epidemics. Lastly, people who had Zika are a group for whom the network of thoughts regarding Zika is concise and unique.