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Paradox of Protective Behaviors Among Muslim Men During the Early Stage of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Aceh, Indonesia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2021

Febri Nurrahmi*
Affiliation:
Department of Communication, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Aceh, Indonesia
Tabsyir Masykar
Affiliation:
Department of Qur’anic Sciences and Tafseer, Sekolah Tinggi Agama Islam Negeri Tgk Chik Dirunding, Meulaboh, Indonesia
Harapan Harapan
Affiliation:
Medical Research Unit, School of Medicine, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Aceh, Indonesia Tropical Disease Centre, School of Medicine, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Aceh, Indonesia Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Aceh, Indonesia
Tanzir Masykar
Affiliation:
Akademi Komunitas Negeri Aceh Barat, Meulaboh, Indonesia
*
Corresponding author: Febri Nurrahmi, Email: febri.nurrahmi@unsyiah.ac.id.
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Abstract

Objective:

The imposition of protective health protocols in public spaces to curb the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has confronted the ritual of congregational prayers in mosques for Muslims. This study examines the adoption of protective behaviors in the early stage of the COVID-19 outbreak and the influence of religion on risk perception by comparing precautionary behaviors in public and in mosques.

Methods:

Data were collected through an online survey of 327 Muslim men across the Aceh Province, Indonesia, from April 21, 2020, to May 2, 2020. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test and the paired t-test were employed to compare the uptake of protective behaviors in public and mosques.

Results:

The adoption of protective behaviors was higher in public rather than in mosques. It further revealed that the understanding of Islamic teachings during the pandemic has influenced perceived risk and the way Muslim men comply with the protective guidelines. Those who have complete, incomplete, or no compliance of precautionary behaviors have their own interpretation of Islamic teachings that inform their individual actions to manage the risk.

Conclusion:

This study suggests the significance of religious views for developing public health preparedness during the current and future pandemics in Aceh and other Muslim majority regions.

Information

Type
Original Research
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2021
Figure 0

Table 1. The respondents’ characteristics (n = 327)

Figure 1

Figure 1. Protective behaviors in public.

Figure 2

Table 2. Comparison of wearing a face mask and handwashing in public and in a mosque

Figure 3

Figure 2. Reasons for attending congregational prayers (A) and feeling during congregational prayers in mosques (B).

Figure 4

Figure 3. Reasons for not attending daily communal prayers (A) and Friday prayers (B) in mosques.

Supplementary material: File

Nurrahmi et al. supplementary material

Table S1

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