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Table 1 Sociodemographic and key COVID-19-related variables across the study countries

From: The trajectory of COVID-19 pandemic and handwashing adherence: findings from 14 countries

Country/ variable

Australia

Canada

China

France

Gambia

Germany

Israel

Italy

Malaysia

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Singapore

Switzerland

Total

Total N

621

471

445

551

221

431

483

519

395

567

408

307

168

477

6064

Data collection dates in year 2020

29 Mar- 03 Jul

29 Mar- 22 Jul

28 Mar- 24 Jun

27 Mar- 8 Jul

08 Jun- 19 Jul

25 Mar- 14 Jul

4 Apr- 19 May

26 Mar- 9 Jul

4 Apr- 09 Jul

24 Mar- 14 Jul

26 Mar- 03 Jul

10 Apr- 13 Jul

05 Apr- 12 Jul

31 Mar- 15 Jul

24 Mar- 22 Jul

The outcome variable:

Handwashing adherence (mean item scores): M, SD

3.24, 0.58

3.21, 0.49

3.19, 0.54

3.25, 0.55

3.30, 0.59

3.32, 0.50

3.12, 0.53

3.30, 0.44

3.32, 0.50

3.28, 0.55

3.43, 0.45

3.58, 0.47

3.25, 0.54

3.37, 0.50

3.29, 0.53

The predictor variables: indices of the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic

 New COVID-19 cases: M, SD

27.10, 50.70

794.86, 275.49

62.17, 42.55

1279.35, 591.60

0.95, 0.51

3323.53, 1569.82

429.05, 123.61

3741.24, 1828.60

116.30, 47.33

163.96, 121.93

491.32, 177.49

320.21, 41.46

482.48, 151.61

773.47, 303.30

922.34, 1391.05

 New COVID-19 deaths: M, SD

1.37, 0.41

83.77, 36.82

11.14, 25.28

336.09, 161.53

0.05, 0.03

126.24, 66.47

4.82, 1.35

513.74, 218.13

2.33, 1.28

6.67, 8.01

14.80, 5.80

18.50, 4.29

0.16, 0.14

40.97, 11.53

97.27, 179.36

 Total COVID-19 cases*: M, SD

6850.06, 293.01

83,057.20, 28,650.47

83,589.90, 8916.70

132,870.33, 13,552.14

49.70, 15.95

123,642.79, 40,575.64

10,843.05, 2852.01

142,495.30, 58,024.40

5074.28, 1444.06

6240.98, 8252.17

14,268.68, 9623.05

22,645.68, 6746.88

31,383.96, 11,410.97

24,133.45, 3318.30

52,997.56, 57,497.74

 Total COVID-19 deaths: M, SD

93.68, 12.12

6609.06, 2658.32

3918.7, 656.39

25,333.30, 3520.88

2.18, 0.86

3844.95, 2725.23

106.64, 67.13

18,247.43, 9544.74

82.90, 22.38

263.42, 395.08

482.85, 468.11

1385.47, 413.57

21.43, 5.17

863.39, 307.06

5157.15, 8719.93

 2-week change in COVID-19 cases: M, SD

−20.84. 53.68

−196.56, 354.43

7.40, 27.99

− 1147.32, 687.47

0.23, 0.37

844.20, 2710.99

214.25, 219.09

1573.39, 2101.96

6.46, 68.93

53.90, 63.58

342.16, 253.60

63.15, 75.97

−24.87, 299.64

148.04, 362.04

133.26, 1163.97

 2-week change in COVID-19 deaths: M, SD

−0.36, 0.55

−11.04, 24.03

−2.85, 33.96

− 295.56, 132.06

0.01, 0.04

46.49, 61.48

2.95, 2.57

266.73, 296.20

0.68, 2.30

1.17, 3.96

9.45, 9.25

3.50, 3.36

−0.09, 0.14

26.14, 19.85

1.43, 154.16

Participants’ COVID-19 -related situation (control variables)

 Exposure to information regarding handwashing: % tv/mass media/ % social media/ % work/school/ % healthcare institutions/ mean %/ seen no information

87.0/ 83.4/ 57.7/ 71.3/ 74.9/ 1.2

84.7/ 80.9/ 65.6/ 62.7/ 73.5/ 0.5

62.5/ 77.5/ 33.2/ 23.7/ 49.2/ 0.7

90.9/ 70.8/ 50.2/ 46.2/ 64.5/ 1.2

74.1/ 47.6/ 39.5/ 42.2/ 50.9/ 0.5

79.9/ 67.5/ 48.2/ 45.4/ 60.3/ 1.8

93.4/ 60.9/ 27.6/ 26.1/ 52/ 0.0

84.8/ 67.4/ 26.2/ 44.5/ 55.7/ 0.7

77.3/ 70.9/ 39.3/ 43.3/ 57.7/ 0.9

65.7/ 75.7/ 52.6/ 35.9/ 57.6/ 2.5

81.9/ 74.0/ 57.5/ 61.9/ 68.8/ 1.0

87.0/ 68.8/ 49.1/ 39.0/ 61.0/ 1.1

80.5/ 74.4/ 53.4/ 58.6/ 66.7/ 2.3

84.8/ 78.6/ 66.2/ 49.9/ 70.0/ 2.8

81.3/ 72.5/ 47.8/ 46.4/ 62.0/ 1.2

 Profession: healthcare services (%)

10.6

10.8

6.5

24.5

28.1

7.7

9.9

9.4

20.8

16.6

30.1

10.1

7.1

15.3

14.6

 Being quarantined/isolated due to COVID-19: % no/ % yes

84.7/ 15.3

80.5/ 19/5

90.3/ 9.7

58.4/ 41.6

93.7/6.3

92.3/ 7.7

88.4/ 11.6

53.0/ 47.0

68.6/ 31.4

96.5/3.5

54.7/ 45.3

81.1/ 18.9

87.5/ 12.5

83.4/ 16.6

78.7/ 21.3

 Deterioration of socio-economic situation during the COVID-19 pandemic: % definitely yes/ % yes/ % no/ % definitely not

8.9/ 18.5/ 47.7/ 25.0

7.6/ 18.0/ 54.1/ 20.2

2.9/ 10.6/ 69.9/ 16.6

9.1/ 11.4/ 49.2/ 30.3

12.2/ 16.3/ 57.5/ 14.0

6.5/ 11.8/ 20.6/ 61.0

7.7/ 20.9/ 48.7/ 22.8

3.3/ 15.4/ 69.4/ 11.9

5.3/ 18.2/ 60.3/ 16.2

1.9/ 9.3/ 80.2/ 8.5

5.9/ 15.9/ 59.8/ 18.4

3.9/ 18.9/ 64.2/ 13.0

10.7/ 18.5/ 51.2/ 19.6

5.7/ 11.7/ 19.9/ 62.7

14.6/ 16.3/ 52.5/ 16.6

 Having ‘flu-like symptoms: M, SD

0.12, 0.33

0.03, 0.17

0.11, 0.31

0.09, 0.29

0.10, 0.30

0.10, 0.30

0.08, 0.28

0.11, 0.32

0.13, 0.34

0.14, 0.34

0.11, 0.31

0.05, 0.22

0.04, 0.19

0.12, 0.33

0.10, 0.30

 Having an acquaintance with flu-like symptoms: M, SD

0.10, 0.30

0.07, 0.25

0.11, 0.32

0.10, 0.30

0.10, 0.31

0.11, 0.31

0.08, 0.27

0.13, 0.34

0.12, 0.33

0.11, 0.32

0.17, 0.37

0.04, 0.19

0.08, 0.27

0.10, 0.30

0.10, 0.31

Sociodemographic characteristics (control variables)

 Gender: % men/ % women/ % other

9.2, 90.0, 0.8

28.7/ 71.3/ 0.0

29.0/ 70.6/ 0.4

18.1/ 81.5/ 0.4

65.2/ 34.8/ 0.0

26.0/ 73.1/ 0.9

23.2/ 76.8/ 0.0

27.4/ 71.9/ 0.8

35.7/ 63.5/ 0.8

24.5/ 75.0/ 0.5

25.5/ 74.5/ 0.0

15.3/ 84.4/ 0.3

18.5/ 81.0/ 0.6

23.1/ 76.5/ 0.4

24.8/ 74.8/ 0.4

 Age: M, SD (min-max)

42.51, 13.06 (18–86)

34.26, 15.81 (18–80)

23.02, 3.56 (18–47)

35.06, 13.53 (18–80)

31.11, 9.11 (18–68)

36.87, 16.65 (18–79)

49.04, 16.36 (18–86)

34.15, 15.94 (18–87)

38.87, 14.26 (18–75)

32.85, 10.68 (18–88)

37.63, 12.54 (18–81)

34.54, 12.74 (18–80)

37.51, 10.95 (20–69)

34.19, 13.45 (18–79)

36.09, 14.63 (18–88)

 Education: % primary / % high school, vocational / % ≤ 3y. of higher education / % ≥4y of higher education

0.6/ 15.6/ 23.2/ 60.6

0.2/ 9.1/ 21.9/ 68.8

1.1/ 6.8/ 27.4/ 64.7

0.2/ 18.7/ 39.5/ 41.6

1.8/ 24.4/ 31.2/ 42.6

1.4/ 51.9/ 16.3/ 30.4

0.0/ 12.2/ 20.5/ 67.3

0.6/ 24.5/ 25.0/ 49.9

1.0/ 7.8/ 22.3/ 68.9

1.0/ 19.4/ 15.9/ 63.7

0.4/ 11.3/ 14.5/ 73.8

0.7/ 9.8/ 20.8/ 68.7

0.6/ 13.7/ 22.6/ 63.1

2.1/ 45.7/ 29.4/ 22.8

0.8/ 19.7/ 23.6/ 55.9

 Perceived economic status: % below average/ % average/ % above average

11.6/ 42.2/ 46.2

8.5/ 42.5/ 49.0

21.6/ 58.7/ 19.8

14.5/ 54.8/ 30.7

19.0/ 58.8/ 22.2

6.7/ 41.8/ 51.5

24.4/ 26.3/ 49.3

8.7/ 62.2/ 29.1

5.8/ 44.3/ 49.9

7.6/ 34.7/ 57.7

5.9/ 59.3/ 34.8

3.9/ 53.4/ 42.7

7.7/ 35.1/ 57.1

9.6/ 54.9/ 35.4

11.30/ 47.6/ 41.2

 Marital status: % married or living with a partner/ % other

67.5/ 32.5

49.5/ 50.5

19.1/ 80.9

55.5/ 44.5

48.4/ 51.6

45.7/ 54.3

72.0/ 28.0

35.3/ 64.7

56.2/ 43.8

71.3/ 28.7

60.5/ 39.5

64.5/ 35.5

57.7/ 42.3

39.4/ 60.6

53.9/ 46.1

Country-level control variables

 Containment and heath policies index*: M, SD

70.10, 1.38

71.78, 1.11

74.52, 7.92

78.98, 1.53

72.06, 2.64

70.40, 2.49

85.51, 3.97

82.86, 11.59

74.80, 3.64

57.58, 9.90

73.88, 2.55

57.37, 15.53

79.01, 7.96

66.83, 2.66

72.51, 10.38

 Human development index (2019) for the country

0.944

0.929

0.761

0.901

0.496

0.947

0.919

0.892

0.810

0.880

0.864

0.828

0.938

0.955

  1. Note. M Mean, SD Standard deviation; Handwashing adherence = cross-situational adherence to the WHO handwashing guidelines; Means and SD for COVID-19 morbidity and mortality indices and values of the index of strictness of containment and health policies were matched to date and country of obtaining self-reported data from participants; Total COVID-19 cases/deaths = total COVID-19 morbidity/mortality cases accumulated since the beginning of the pandemic (per country and per date); New COVID-19 cases/deaths = the number of new COVID-19 cases/deaths per country per day (average values for 2-week period); 2-week change in COVID-19 cases = a difference in the mean of new cases of COVID-19 in the 14 days prior to data collection, compared to the mean of country new cases of COVID-19 in the 15–28 days before the date of data collection; higher scores indicate more new cases in 14 days previous to data collection compared to 15–28 days before data collection; 2-week change in COVID-19 deaths = a 2-week change in COVID-19 deaths, calculated in the same manner as change in COVID-19 cases; Profession: healthcare services = being employed as healthcare professional during the COVID-19 pandemic; Containment and health policies index = strictness of COVID-19-related containment and health policies (country-and week-specific data)