Health aspects of the behaviour of the Czech population during the COVID-19 pandemic from a public health perspective.

Abstract

The paper presents the outcomes of the WHO European Region research project, Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic and the First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University which concerned Czech population behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Czech Republic the research was carried out in three waves on a representative sample of respondents using methodology of a questionnaire survey. The results showed that the risk perception in connection with the pandemic was low in the Czech environment, regardless of the growing number of infected and deceased. Optimism persisted about the perception of personal susceptibility to infection and self-efficacy. General wellbeing was above average after successfully coping with the first wave, but it decreased slightly in connection with the worsening of the pandemic situation. Compliance with preventive measures has been relatively low for a long time and the trend has been rather declining. By the time, it became increasingly difficult to understand the communication of state authorities regarding the measures being implemented, and trust in the media decreased. A positive finding was the increase in the proportion of those who tried to improve the lifestyle in connection with the pandemic.