COVID-19 Knowledge, Perceptions, and Behaviors: A Multinational Comparative Study among Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the United States

Abstract Control measures for the COVID-19 outbreak involve adequate public awareness and evaluation. These psychological and social aspects are effective in developing appropriate prevention and health communication strategies for mitigating the risk of an outcome. While a number of studies have investigated knowledge and awareness in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in specific populations, overall evaluation of these behavioral parameters in the context of different nations remained unexplored. This multinational comparative study is the first to investigate the COVID-19 knowledge, perception, and behavioral patterns among Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and United States individuals comprehensively, incorporating principal component analysis (PCA) along with traditional statistical analyses. Data from 646 participants of Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the United States were collected through an online questionnaire focusing on socio-demographics, information on knowledge, risk perception, precautionary measures, major information sources, and their trustworthiness. The findings revealed that participants from the United States were more knowledgeable (89.1%) than Pakistan and Bangladesh, respectively, whereas social media-based information was found to be a key predictor for lower knowledge levels (p = 0.04). Besides, females showed higher knowledge scores, while information from doctors and international health authorities positively influenced higher knowledge levels. Although the highest percentage of correct precautionary behavior was observed among the participants from the United States (85%), participants from Bangladesh showed a higher degree of worries. In addition to that, Pakistani people showed lower risk perception in response to this pandemic. Though further studies are needed to be conducted to address these circumstances, findings from this study might be helpful in implementing management policies, harm reduction, and risk communication protocols of the pandemic.