Mathur, Devasheesh (2021, September-December). Emerging Attitudes of Lay People towards Lockdown during Covid-19 Pandemic: An Exploration of Attitude Types through Q-methodology. Journal of Public Health and Development, 19(3), 130-142. (Access: https://he01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/AIHD-MU/article/view/251877/170205)
Abstract: The unprecedented pandemic of Covid-19 has forced us to live in a constrained manner. The norms of social distancing and work-from-home in conjunction with severely reduced socio-economic activities have put psychological and behavioral burdens on laypeople. The study explores the emerging attitudes of laypeople towards the situation. The covid-19 pandemic is unprecedented in its magnitude and the preparedness to remain in a state of lockdown for a long period has not been experienced by most of the citizens. ABC model of Affective, Behavioral and Cognitive aspects of a lay person’s attitudes towards lockdown are captured. A quasi-experimental Q-sorting technique is used in to explore the emerging attitudes towards the situation. Factor analysis along with textual analysis of submitted answers are conducted. Five attitude types emerge from the study based on the ABC model. The attitudes differ in terms of a person’s threat perception towards Covid-19, locus of control, practical and work-place issues, information-seeking behavior and community-orientation. Most respondents appear psychologically adaptive to the situation and they are optimistic in outlook; however, the caveat may be that it is their knee-jerk reaction as very little is known about the pandemic. Some people are uncertain of how to handle the situation and are becoming pessimistic by the day, while there are others who are dismissive of the situation and continue to ply as before. The emerging attitude types and their components would be useful pointers for national and provincial governments in their communication about the pandemic. In addition, organizations could use this to assess their employees’ preparedness in the crisis and manage accordingly.
Devasheesh Mathur <devasheesh.mathur@gmail.com> is in Healthcare Management, Goa Institute of Management, Goa, India.
