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International Conference on Information Technology & Systems

ICITS 2021: Information Technology and Systems pp 179–197Cite as

General Knowledge and Perception of Portuguese Children About COVID-19

Part of the Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing book series (AISC,volume 1331)

Abstract

The Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has not only posed a number of challenges to health systems around the world, but its effects have been devastating on economic, social and political levels. Along with the epidemiological danger of COVID-19, the expansion of disinformation about the pandemic has been a major concern of the World Health Organization (WHO 2019), including among children. Therefore, it is important to ask: what is the knowledge and perception of Portuguese children about COVID-19? Our study’s main objective is to answer this question by assessing how they perceived the epidemiological phenomenon. In order to fulfill our goal, we applied a single questionnaire to a sample of 960 children between three and 11 years old, collected between March 20 and April 21, 2020. The online survey with open-ended questions was disseminated by email through Primary and Preschools from all regions of Portugal, and through Facebook. Subsequently, we carried out a qualitative analysis of the results for which we rely on the IRAMUTEQ software. The study concluded that Portuguese children were, in general, able to identify and define the disease, assess its risk of contagion and the severity it represents for humanity; and that the majority are afraid of the consequences of COVID-19.

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • Children
  • Portugal
  • Knowledge
  • Perception
  • Digital social media

B. P. Toniolo and J. P. Baptista—Both authors contributed in the same way to the article.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Source: Pordata 2018. Retrieved from: https://www.pordata.pt/Home.

  2. 2.

    See: https://www.facebook.com/ascriancaseocoronavirus/.

  3. 3.

    See: https://bit.ly/3kgCiNo.

  4. 4.

    See: https://www.sns.gov.pt/conferencias-de-imprensa-diarias/

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal

    Bianca Persici Toniolo, João Pedro Baptista & Cecília Ramos

  2. University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    Valeriano Piñeiro-Naval

  3. University of Beira Interior/LabCom, Covilhã, Portugal

    Anabela Gradim

Authors
  1. Bianca Persici Toniolo
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  2. João Pedro Baptista
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  3. Cecília Ramos
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  4. Valeriano Piñeiro-Naval
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  5. Anabela Gradim
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bianca Persici Toniolo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. ISEG, University of Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

    Prof. Álvaro Rocha

  2. Geografía, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Prof. Carlos Ferrás

  3. Ciencia Política y Sociología, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Prof. Paulo Carlos López-López

  4. Santa Elena, Systems Dept, Univ Estatal Peninsula de, La Libertad, Ecuador

    Prof. Teresa Guarda

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Persici Toniolo, B., Baptista, J.P., Ramos, C., Piñeiro-Naval, V., Gradim, A. (2021). General Knowledge and Perception of Portuguese Children About COVID-19. In: Rocha, Á., Ferrás, C., López-López, P.C., Guarda, T. (eds) Information Technology and Systems. ICITS 2021. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 1331. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68418-1_19

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