Knowledge, socio-cognitive perceptions and the practice of hand hygiene and social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study of UK university students

Table 3 Correlation between factors (demographic, knowledge, socio-cognitive) and social distancing behaviour

Factor	N	Mean (SD)	Median (IQR) ^a	Correlation Social Distancing Behaviour
Factor	N	Mean (SD)	Median (IQR) ^a	Spearman’s r_s (2-tailed) [95% BCa CI]^b	p
Social distancing behaviour score	281	2.60 (0.63)	2.75 (0.5)	–	–
Age	281	23.53 (5.75)	22 (5)	0.03 [−0.09, 0.15]	0.658
Gender (F/M)	278	N/A	N/A	−0.13 [− 0.26, − 0.01]	0.026
Ethnicity (Minorities/White)	281	N/A	N/A	−0.12 [− 0.23, 0.01]	0.026
Student home/Intl status	278	N/A	N/A	−0.03 [− 0.16, 0.09]	0.573
Health course	278	N/A	N/A	0.02 [−0.10, 0.14]	0.732
Exposure	279	N/A	N/A	0.014 [−0.10, 0.11]	0.814
Knowledge – COVID-19	275	2.53 (0.75)	3.0 (1.0)	0.06 [−0.06, 0.19]	0.293
Risk perception	281	4.31 (1.56)	4.33 (2.0)	0.07 [−0.04, 0.19]	0.217
Self-efficacy – avoidance of infection	281	6.14 (1.86)	6.0 (2.0)	0.12 [0.01, 0.24]	0.047
Social distancing effectiveness knowledge	277	9.66 (0.72)	10.0 (0)	0.11 [−0.02, 0.22]	0.075
Attitude^c	277	0.87 (0.95)	1.0 (1.0)	0.16 [0.05, 0.27]	0.009
Advantages	280	4.61 (0.52)	5.00 (0.92)	0.26 [0.13, 0.38]	< 0.001
Disadvantages (reversed) ^c	278	2.26 (0.81)	2.33 (1.33)	0.02 [−0.11, 0.16]	0.746
Social support	276	4.40 (0.65)	4.67 (1.0)	0.28 [0.15, 0.39]	< 0.001
Trust^d	280	3.89 (0.71)	4.0 (1.0)	0.28 [0.16, 0.39]	< 0.001
Self-efficacy – social distance	280	4.39 (0.66)	4.67 (1.0)	0.43 [0.32, 0.52]	< 0.001

Abbreviations: N/A not applicable, BCa CI Bias corrected accelerated confidence intervals ,SD standard deviation; IQR, interquartile range Bold: significance p < 0.05
^a Median (IQR) reported as based on the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for normality, variables were not normally distributed
^b 95% BCa CI from 1000 bootstrap samples
^c Cronbach α for Attitude < 0.5 so subscales (advantages and disadvantages) analysed. Cronbach α for Disadvantages subscale < 0.5 so key representative item analysed “I think I will lose my job (or have lost my job and will not be able to find other work)” – reversed - correlation with social distancing behaviour: r_s = 0.09 [− 0.04, 0.21], p = 0.153
^d Cronbach α for Trust < 0.5, so two key items analysed “I think the decisions that have been made to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus are fair”- correlation with social distancing behaviour: r_s = 0.21 [0.10, 0.33], p = 0.001; “I think the authorities should relax the restrictions even if there are still many new cases of COVID-19 emerging” – reversed - correlation with social distancing behaviour: r_s = 0.24 [0.12, 0.36], p < 0.001

ISSN: 1471-2458