Perceived social support and compliance with stay at-home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research Report.

Summary: By the end of January, WHO declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. As of August 2020, the novel corona virus 2019 (COVID-19) has spread to every region of the world except Antarctica infecting millions of people and killing hundreds of thousands. Nepal's first confirmed COVID-19 case was on January 23, and the country continues to see a gradual increase in the number of confirmed cases forcing governments of Nepal to impose restrictions aimed to promote social distancing. People's adherence to control measures is affected by their knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards COVID-19. The COVID-19 situation is not limited to individuals only; it extends to the social fabric. Policy recommendations have social implications because restricting contact can disrupt social group activities such as parties, gatherings and shopping at malls. Therefore, personal behavior is affected by social norms and practices because social psychology research and individuals will try to understand complex situations. With very little known about the factors that affect compliance with health care counseling during infections, growing body of literature that exemplifies the role of social support for health behavior change. The current study aims to assess the level of compliance with perceived social support and home stay advice among resident of Nepal. More than half (52.8%) of the participants were male. Nearly half (47.4%) of the participants were skilled/technical workers followed by more than one-third (37.4%) being housewife/student/unemployed. More than four-fifth (82.7%) of the participants had completed bachelor and higher level education. Similarly, more than half (55.1%) reported their status to be negative while more than one-fourth (28.0%) were unknown about their status and 16% reported being either positive or previously were tested positive. Nearly half (50.9%) of the participants reported being vaccinated while about half (49.1%) of the participants were yet to be vaccinated. For the assessment of Perceived social support, a Multi-dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MPSS), was used whereby overall mean score was found 5.6 (±1.0). The mean score was higher (mean: 6.1; SD: 1.1) for support from family and lower (mean: 5.2; SD: 1.3) for support from friends. About 2 out of 5 participants reported mostly isolating themselves (38.6%), 1 out of 5 reported they isolated themselves to a great deal (20.5%), while more than two-fifth (41.0%) of the participants described isolating themselves only to some level (22.9%), a little (11.0%) or not at all (7.1%) isolating themselves from people outside their home. Overall, high percentage of participants' nearly two-fifth participants (40.2%) reported poor compliance with stay at home orders. Results obtained from perceived support concluded that female have significantly higher perceived support (80%) compared to their male counterparts (74%). No significant difference was observed in other socio-demographic and perceived support received. Finally, significant difference was observed in vaccinated individual and compliance with stay at home however no significant relationship was observed in any other socio-demographic characteristics in relation to the stay at home order.