Gender difference in response to new emerging diseases --- an example of the SARS outbreak

BACKGROUND: Taiwan's severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic was the third-worst. China was number one followed by Hong Kong. The World Health Organization (WHO) added Taiwan to the travel alert list on May 21, 2003. OBJECTIVES: To explore gender difference in response to the SARS outbreak across different epidemic time periods. METHODS: Three telephone surveys were conducted using nation-wide representative samples aged 18 and above. Data were collected using computer-assisted telephone interview system. The first survey (N1=1,081) and the second survey (N2=1,275) was conducted respectively in May and June, 2003. The third survey (N3=1,278) was conducted in November 2003, roughly four months after Taiwan was lifted from the SARS-affected area list by the WHO. The maximum deviation of sampling error at the 95% confidence level for all surveys were less than ±3%. RESULTS: Comparing respondents' subjective responses on the questionnaire, significant decreasing trends were found among the three temporal surveys, including pessimistic anticipations of the disease was reduced from 52% to 24%. Follow up analyses showed that gender differences in these responses are also considerable. The percentages of extremely optimistic males are significantly greater than that of extremely optimistic females (7%:3%; 48%:34%; 45%:41%) for all the three occasions. Moreover, respondents' perception of the degree of severity regarding SARS and perception of SARS patients' survival rate indicated significant gender differences across different epidemic time periods. As regard to the impact of SARS epidemic on respondents' daily life, the significant gender difference was only found during the second survey. These comparisons were statistically evaluated by using contingency tables and corresponding Chi-square statistics and other advanced analytical methods. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate considerable gender differences on optimistic perceptions of the disease outbreak during and after the crisis. We provide important inferences regarding the consequences of these perceptions through empirical illustrations and literature comparisons, particularly, from an east cultural perspective.