Factors predicting non-adherence to Covid-19 guidelines in Guayaquil: The role of mediating factors

Abstract

Because the high infectious rates of Coronavirus in south countries, the compliance with prevention guidelines (WHO and Ecuadorian Emergency Committee (COE) prevention guidelines) is necessary to prevent the spread of the virus. People ignoring instructions likely exacerbating the social, economic, and environmental concerns about the pandemic. According to sociodemographic descriptors in urban and rural areas of Guayaquil, average falls to over 70% for people having only below upper secondary education and over 50% for employed people among 20-34 years old, in the middle of a popular economy weakened context. The risk perception (F2), safety climate (F3) and the perceived understanding (F4) are believed to directly influence the compliance (F1) within this context. The mediating role of perceived understanding and safety on compliance response is also considered. This study aimed to identify factors that make an Ecuadorian population more/less likely to comply infectious COE guidelines. The data was collected after the last COVID-19 lockdown in Guayaquil city via online survey of 927 participants. The SPSS®Amos 27.0 - SEM based on maximum likelihood estimation was implemented to evaluate all the considered hypotheses (χ2 /df=3.6, CFI ≥ 0.91, TLI ≥ 0.90, RMSEA ≤ 0.05). The analysis of this hypothesis suggests that positive change in compliance is possible mediating the effect of risk positively. The study leaded to factors affecting a fully restrictions compliance after the last regulation in Guayaquil City (April-May 2021): the self-awareness of following the rules seems to have a strong relationship with perception of having enough knowledge about the coronavirus to primarily leads the behavioral control. Low confidence about government management during crisis events is another factor that enhance non-preventive behavior. This combination seems to be enough to decide about the convenience of following health precautions, especially during period of relaxation.