Determining Community Attitudes toward Various Aspects of the COVID-19 Pandemic Using the Social Profile Ratio Technique

Background: Assessing the changes in public attitudes toward pandemics is crucial in adapting public health strategies to changing circumstances. This study aims to assess the community’s attitude toward the COVID-19 pandemic using the Social Profile Ratio (SPR) method among different occupational groups in Ardabil province. Methods: Employing a cross-sectional survey design, this research assessed the attitudes of 230 respondents toward the COVID-19 pandemic in June 2020. Then, the standard SPR method, along with the Index of Resolution (IR), was utilized to analyze the SPR scores, considering different aspects (prevention, control, treatment, and impacts) of the pandemic. Results: According to the SPR values, the occupational groups had different points of view. The highest life expectancy (30 years) was attributed to employees, students, collegians, and instructors. Notably, employees and university professors had the highest SPR and IR values (9.343 and 1) for the prevention indicator. Regarding the control indicator, the unemployed and university professors had SPR and IR values of 5.36 and 0.733, respectively. The highest SPR value of 44.11 in terms of treatment was attributed to employees, while students had the highest SPR value of 10.03 in terms of impact indicator. Conclusion: The study identified employees, university professors, and the unemployed as the most effective groups across prevention, control, treatment, and impact indicators.