Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health
In June 2023, the Public Health Agency, within the Ministry of Health, commissioned research agency Verian to undertake a series of research projects and population surveys into attitudes and behaviours related to public health measures following the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this research was to examine the impact of COVID-19 on New Zealanders’ attitudes and behaviours towards public health measures and use this knowledge to better prepare the Ministry, and other decision makers, for future pandemics and other major health threats.
This work is split into two parts, each with two reports. The first part is two repeated behavioural surveys to monitor adherence to public health measures over time, covering both intention and actual behaviour. The second part is a qualitative analysis to explore drivers of COVID-19 related public health behaviours, and to quantify the impact of barriers and other factors on adherence to public health measures. This involves qualitative interviews followed by a survey.
This report, Measuring public health behaviours and intentions is one of the two based on findings from the behavioural survey. It is the second of the four reports to be published.
Key findings
- Half of the adults who had flu symptoms and interacted with others at a place of work or study, said they interacted with others while unwell. A third of children interacted with other children at their school while they were unwell.
- Parents/caregivers are more likely to keep their children home from school if they’re unwell than adults are to keep themselves away from work (83% vs 55% ‘at least somewhat likely’).
- Around 50% of New Zealanders said COVID-19 hasn’t impacted their intention to get vaccinated for the flu, other illnesses, and a new pandemic. The remaining 50% are relatively evenly split between being more likely to get vaccinated now than they were before COVID-19 and being less likely. Most parents/caregivers are just as likely to get vaccinations for their children, as they were before COVID-19 (22% ‘more likely’, 61% ‘just as likely’).
The report is informed by 1,642 surveys conducted online using online research panels. The sample is structured to be demographically representative of the population by age, gender, and region. Māori and Pacific peoples over-sampled relative to population to ensure sufficient sample sizes for analysis – 369 of the 1,642 interviews were with Māori and 200 were with Pacific peoples (30 people identified as both Māori and Pacific). An additional 197 surveys were conducted by telephone – 109 with Māori and 101 with Pacific peoples (13 people identified as both Māori and Pacific). Surveying was conducted 31 October to 29 November 2023.
The report will help enhance the Ministry’s understanding of people’s recent and intended public health behaviours and how these have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
