If you build it, will they come? Social, economic, and psychological determinants of COVID-19 testing decisions

The efficacy of testing and tracing programs to reduce COVID-19 transmission hinges not only on widespread access to testing, but also on the public's willingness to participate in them. To the extent that testing intentions are patterned by social determinants of health, this constitutes an un...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2021-07, Vol.16 (7), p.e0252658-e0252658
Main Authors: Perry, Brea L, Aronson, Brian, Railey, Ashley F, Ludema, Christina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
At risk populations
Biology and Life Sciences
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 diagnostic tests
Demographics
Disease control
Disease transmission
Economic aspects
Economic factors
Economics
Ethnicity
Financial support
Health risks
Marginalized groups
Medical tests
Medicine and Health Sciences
Minority & ethnic groups
Morbidity
Mortality
Pandemics
Psychological aspects
Psychological factors
Public health
Racial differences
Social aspects
Social Sciences
Socio-economic aspects
Socioeconomic status
Socioeconomics
Sociology
Treatment outcomes
Vaccines
Variables
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Summary:The efficacy of testing and tracing programs to reduce COVID-19 transmission hinges not only on widespread access to testing, but also on the public's willingness to participate in them. To the extent that testing intentions are patterned by social determinants of health, this constitutes an understudied mechanism of disparities in COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. Using data from a representative household probability sample, the Person to Person Health Interview Study (n = 935), sociodemographic, economic, and psychological determinants of testing considerations were evaluated across six domains: treatment affordability, ability to work if positive, hospital effectiveness, symptom severity, proximity to infected, and risk of transmitting to others. Public health efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic must address social, economic, and psychological factors that enable and constrain individual behavior. Increasing access to preventative interventions and technologies, including vaccines, is unlikely to markedly reduce morbidity and mortality without effective messaging and economic support to improve uptake in vulnerable populations.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0252658