Risk Perception and Pandemic Fatigue before COVID-19 in Cuba

Abstract

Introduction: Risk perception is directly interrelated with the manifestations of pandemic fatigue arising in people, as the critical situation generated by the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus continues, determining peculiar manifestations in human behavior. The restrictive measures that have been necessary to impose due to the COVID-19 have had a great impact on the mental health of the population. Among the main components of the emotional response to the pandemic are fear and uncertainty.

Objective: To describe the specificities and interrelationships between the categories of risk perception and pandemic fatigue.

Methods: A narrative bibliographic review on the topic was carried out in digital data sources from March to April 2021. The keywords (descriptors) used for the search of the information were the following (in Spanish and English): percepción de riesgo [risk perception], fatiga pandémica [pandemic fatigue], salud mental [mental health] and COVID-19. The search was carried out in the following databases: PubMed, SciELO and PsycINFO.

Conclusions: There are few pieces of research in Cuba that have addressed the topic of risk perception with respect to COVID -19; even so, it has been identified that, although people have the knowledge and are informed about the magnitude of the effect that the pandemic can cause, they tend to minimize the risk of getting sick and are often considered invulnerable. The performed review shows that, in a considerable part of the population, the decrease in the level of risk perception is determined by manifestations of pandemic fatigue.