Table 1.
Sociodemographic and key COVID-19-related variables across the study 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 | – |
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)