How to reduce the latent social risk of disease: The determinants of vaccination against rabies in Taiwan
Journal
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Journal Volume
11
Journal Issue
6
Pages
5934-5950
Date Issued
2014
Author(s)
Abstract
To control the latent social risk of disease, the government usually spreads accurate information and attempts to improve the public's attitude toward adopting prevention. However, these methods with the Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) model do not always work. Therefore, we used the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to understand dog owners' behavior and distinguished the knowledge effect as objective knowledge (OK) and subjective knowledge (SK). A total of 310 dog owners completed a questionnaire based on our model. We employed structural equation modeling to verify the structural relationships and found three main results. First, our model was fit, and each path was significant. People with better attitudes, stronger subjective norms, and more perceptive behavioral control have stronger behavioral intention. Second, perceived behavioral control, not attitude, was the best predictive index in this model. Finally, on perceived behavioral control, subjective knowledge showed more influence than objective knowledge. We successfully extended TPB to explain the behavioral intention of dog owners and presented more workable recommendations. To reduce the latent social risk of disease, the government should not only address dog owners' attitudes, but also their subjective norms and perceptive behavioral control. Indeed, perceptive behavioral control and SK showed the most influence in this model. It is implied that the self-efficacy of dog owners is the most important factor in such a behavior. Therefore, the government should focus on enhancing dog owners' self-efficacy first while devoted to prevention activities. ? 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Subjects
Rabies; Social risk; The theory of planned behavior; Vaccination
SDGs
Other Subjects
disease control; public attitude; rabies; risk assessment; vaccination; article; behavior; behavior change; behavioral intention; health behavior; human; knowledge; objective knowledge; perceived behavioral control; rabies; risk reduction; self concept; subjective knowledge; subjective norm; Theory of Planned Behavior; vaccination; adolescent; adult; aged; animal; attitude to health; dog; Dog Diseases; female; health behavior; male; middle aged; preventive health service; questionnaire; rabies; statistical model; Taiwan; theoretical model; utilization; veterinary; young adult; Taiwan; rabies vaccine; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Animals; Attitude to Health; Dog Diseases; Dogs; Female; Health Behavior; Humans; Immunization Programs; Male; Middle Aged; Models, Statistical; Models, Theoretical; Questionnaires; Rabies; Rabies Vaccines; Taiwan; Young Adult
Type
journal article