Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

March 23, 2020

How health anxiety influences responses to viral outbreaks like COVID-19: What all decision makers, health authorities, and health care professionals need to know

Category:

Topic:

  • Psychological factors play a vital role in the success of public health strategies (risk communication, vaccination and antiviral therapy, hygiene practices, and social distancing) used to manage outbreaks like COVID-19.
  • It is critical for public health decision-makers, health authorities and health care providers across disciplines to understand how health anxiety may influence individual behaviors during COVID-19. This will help tailor messages that may curb irresponsible decisions by the general public. 

Asmundson & Taylor (Mar 10, 2020). How health anxiety influences responses to viral outbreaks like COVID-19: What all decision makers, health authorities, and health care professionals need to know. Jour of Anxiety Disorder. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102211