Community Trust and Public Health Compliance: COVID-19 Experiences in Newfoundland and Labrador

Thaneswary Rajanderan PhD^1*, Rodney Russell PhD², Chand S Mangat PhD³, Douglas Howse BSc⁴, Cheryl PZ Foo MD⁴, Atanu Sarkar PhD¹

ABSTRACT                                                                                                                                                                  

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly affected global healthcare systems, necessitating effective infectious disease control measures. Understanding specific populations’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) relating to COVID-19 is crucial for implementing public health interventions. Since Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), Canada has a unique socio-geographic context and high healthcare expenditures per capita, a KAP study is needed to understand how COVID-19 impacted local communities and its influence on public health measures. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 100 NL resident participants aged 18–76 years between August 2022 and January 2023 to investigate their experiences with COVID-19 through a phenomenological and KAP framework. Results: The study identified three main themes: COVID-19, knowledge built on locally trusted sources and experiences, social dynamics shaping attitudes towards COVID-19, and the need for public health tools to improve practices around COVID-19. Key findings include reliance on local news for information, mental health impacts, high compliance with health measures, and challenges in at-home care and recovery. Some challenges include the need for regular communication, accessible mental health support, and COVID-19 at-home care tools. Conclusion: The unique experiences and KAP of COVID-19 in NL highlight the importance of understanding regional differences to improve COVID-19 public health interventions. Targeted interventions that focus on transparent communication, at-home COVID-19 care tools, and accessible mental health support should be explored in the context of regional public health support for sustaining a healthy population and mitigating future outbreaks in similar contexts.

Authors credentials and affiliations:

1. Population Health and Applied Health Science, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador.
2. Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador.
3. JC Wilt Infectious Diseases Research Centre, National Microbiology Laboratory, Winnipeg.
4. Department of Health and Community Services, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

* Corresponding Author (email [email protected] and phone 17099866068)

Funding: This work was supported by the Seed, Bridge and Multidisciplinary Fund [grant number 20230226] and the Faculty of Medicine Dean’s Fellowship from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, to support the graduate student.

Conflict of interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare relevant to this article’s content.

Ethics approval: All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Health Research Ethics Board in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada (# 2022.110) and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.”

Consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Data and material: The data underlying this article are available in the article.

Author contributions: All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Thaneswary Rajanderan prepared the material, collected the data, and performed the analysis. Atanu Sarkar supervised Thaneswary Rajanderan in all the steps of the research project. Thaneswary Rajanderan wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Acknowledgment: The authors are grateful to Danni Kaitlyn Garrison for advice and support for the project. Participant recruitment was aided by local organizations such as Seniors NL, CAPE NL, Multicultural Women’s Organization of NL, healthcare workers groups, and student groups at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Status: Peer reviewed.

Submitted: 09 AUG 2024 | Published: 26 SEP 2024

Citation: Rajanderan, Thaneswary; and Rodney Russell, Chand S Mangat, Douglas Howse, Cheryl PZ Foo, Atanu Sarkar. (2024). Community Trust and Public Health Compliance: COVID-19 Experiences in Newfoundland and Labrador. Canadian Health Policy, SEP 2024. https://doi.org/10.54194/JZCV5288. canadianhealthpolicy.com