LETTER


Public Health Experts have the Highest Impact on Citizens’ Compliance with COVID-19 Prevention Recommendations



Bernard Tahirbegolli1, Iliriana A. Tahirbegolli2, 3, *, Leonora Paice2, Sefedin Muçaj4, 5, Adnan Hoxha1, Suphi Vehid6
1 Heimerer College, Health Institutions and Services Management Department, 10000 Prishtina, Kosovo
2 Heimerer College, Nursing Department, 10000 Prishtina, Kosovo
3 Hematology Clinic, University Clinical Center of Kosovo, 10000 Prishtina, Kosovo
4 Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine University of Prishtina, 10000 Prishtina, Kosovo
5 National Institute of Public Health of Kosovo, 10000 Prishtina, Kosovo
6 Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Demiroglu Bilim University, 34394 Esentepe Sisli, Istanbul, Turkey


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Creative Commons License
© 2021 Tahirbegolli et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at Kolegji Heimerer, Veranda D4, Hyrja C dhe D LagjaKalabri, 10000 Prishtinë, Kosovo; Tel: +38349855866; E-mail: ilirianaalloqi@gmail.com


Abstract

Introduction:

In this study, we investigated the sources of information that have had the highest impact on Kosovans’ compliance with preventive measures against COVID-19.

Methods:

We recruited 744 participants, aged 18-35, to participate in this cross-sectional survey between 27th April and 5th May 2020, utilising an online questionnaire.

Results:

Our findings show that public health experts had the greatest influence in persuading citizens to obey the recommendations, with 63.2% (470) compliance, followed by family members, with 18% (134), and health workers, with 10.2% (76).

Conclusion:

Our study has shown that public health experts have had the greatest impact on Kosovo citizens, persuading them to follow recommendations designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19, Public health, Prevention, Epidemics, Kosovo, Young adult.