Awareness, anxiety, compliance: Community perceptions and response to the threat and reality of an influenza pandemic

Authors

Helen S. Marshall, Women and Children's Hospital, Adelaide
Rebecca Tooher, University of Adelaide
Joanne Collins, University of Adelaide
Fiona Mensah, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Annette J. Braunack-Mayer, University of WollongongFollow
Jackie M. Street, University of Adelaide
Philip Ryan, University of Adelaide

RIS ID

125848

Publication Details

Marshall, H. S., Tooher, R., Collins, J., Mensah, F., Braunack-Mayer, A. J., Street, J. M. & Ryan, P. (2012). Awareness, anxiety, compliance: Community perceptions and response to the threat and reality of an influenza pandemic. American Journal of Infection Control, 40 270-272.

Abstract

This study compared community response prior to and during the H1N1 2009 influenza pandemic using a cross-sectional phone survey of rural and metropolitan South Australia, conducted in 2007 and 2009. Awareness of pandemic influenza was significantly higher and anxiety lower in 2009 than in 2007. Reported seasonal influenza vaccine uptake increased from 51.7% in 2007 to 61.4% in 2009, but there was more interest in receiving pandemic vaccine in 2007 (87.5%) than in 2009 (57%).