ALTHOUGH there have been many different types of community quarantine (CQ) with distinct guidelines, Filipinos are still confident about their knowledge about what CQ was in effect in their community, a nationwide study revealed.
The PhilCare CQ Wellness Study found that respondents rated themselves as “very knowledgeable” about the guidelines in effect during enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), extreme enhanced community quarantine (EECQ), and general community quarantine (GCQ) with a score of 1.45.
The study asked respondents nationwide to rate their own knowledge of the CQ guidelines using a five-point scale with the score of one as “very knowledgeable” to a score of five for “not very knowledgeable.”
Nine out of 10 respondents (93 percent) believe knowing about the guidelines of the various community quarantine classifications. Nearly all respondents said they know ECQ guidelines (97 percent), while nine out of 10 said they know about GCQ (92 percent) and EECQ guidelines (90 percent).
Educational attainment turned out to be a significant factor in the differences in respondents’ scores. Results found that those who (a) finished high school or some college and (b) had some high school education or lower reported having the strongest level of knowledge about the CQ guidelines and their distinctions with scores of 1.46 and 1.51, respectively.
On the other hand, respondents with higher educational attainment like college and post-graduate degrees reported having the weakest knowledge with scores 1.53 and 1.89, respectively. Respondents with postgraduate degrees particularly had the lowest score, rating themselves to be “knowledgeable” only.
Among those who finished high school or some college, nine out of 10 know about the guidelines of GCQ (93 percent), EECQ (90 percent) and ECQ (88 percent). In terms of knowing the distinctions among the CQ classifications, nine out of 10 also said they know the difference between ECQ and GCQ (93 percent) and between ECQ and EECQ (87 percent).
Most of those who had some high school education or lower, meanwhile, said they know about ECQ (94 percent), GCQ (90 percent) and EECQ (90 percent). Nine out of 10 also reported being knowledgeable about the difference between ECQ and GCQ (94 percent), as well as the difference between ECQ and EECQ (85 percent).
Among college graduates, nearly all (96 percent) said they are knowledgeable about the guidelines in effect during ECQ, while nine out of 10 know about GCQ (91 percent) and EECQ (89 percent). Meanwhile, nine out of 10 (94 percent) said they know the difference between ECQ and GCQ and eight out of 10 (83 percent) know the difference between ECQ and EECQ.
Nine out of 10 respondents with postgraduate degrees said they know the rules of EECQ (89 percent) and ECQ (86 percent), while only six out of 10 (64 percent) know about GCQ. In addition, seven out of 10 (71 percent) said they know how ECQ is different from GCQ and EECQ.
By income groups, the study also found that nearly all respondents from the P10,000-20,000 income group said they know the rules of the ECQ (97 percent), GCQ (92 percent) and EECQ (91 percent).
On the other hand, respondents with less than P10,000 monthly income reported having the weakest perceived level of knowledge with a score of 1.58. Most of them (95 percent) said they are knowledgeable about the guidelines in effect during ECQ, GCQ (87 percent), and EECQ (85 percent).
“With various community quarantine types in place across the country, we thought that this study could help us look into how well Filipinos believe they know the community quarantine guidelines,” said lead researcher Dr. Fernando Paragas of the College of Mass Communication at the University of the Philippines Diliman.
For his part, PhilCare president and chief executive officer Jaeger L. Tanco said the PhilCare CQ Wellness Study would also address the needs of Filipinos when it comes to important news or information like community quarantine guidelines.
“The PhilCare CQ Wellness Study helped us see the bigger picture of Filipinos’ knowledge, attitude and practices while on community quarantine. We believe this will help both the government and private sectors act on giving information to Filipinos especially if there’s a crisis.”
A total of 800 respondents from 46 provinces and 156 cities were interviewed for the study. (PR)