Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

January 19, 2021

Public’s Understanding of Swab Test Results for SARS-CoV-2: An Online Behavioural Experiment during the April 2020 Lockdown

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Among 566 Italian residents, 90% reported that they considered a swab test for SARS-CoV-2 to be useful, but only 67% understood the impact of test diagnostic accuracy and infection prevalence on test predictive value. Participants underestimated the specificity and overestimated the sensitivity of the test. They also tended to overestimate the positive predictive value and underestimate the negative predictive value. Positive results were evaluated by participants as more informative than negative results, and a short-term repeat test was considered more useful after a positive result than a negative result. Human error and technical characteristics were more likely to be cited to cause false positives, while level of viral load was more likely cited as the cause of false negatives.

Pighin and Tentori. (Jan 17, 2021). Public’s Understanding of Swab Test Results for SARS-CoV-2: An Online Behavioural Experiment during the April 2020 Lockdown. BMJ Open. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-043925