What is your understanding of what you are allowed to do to manage your health condition?
| Theme | Cohen’s kappa (p value)* | Agreed final total responses, n=175† | Example of responses |
| Fear/avoidance of hospital care | 0.93, p<0.001 | 48 (27%) | Last night I had heart pain but I didn’t go anywhere because I am scared. Would I go to the Northern (Hospital)?—no, because they have COVID-19. I am worried about going to the hospital because there are sick people and COVID-19 people at the place and health professionals are among those that test positive for COVID-19. |
| Would be comfortable to call general practitioner for advice/remote assessment | 0.86, p<0.001 | 70 (40%) | Communicate on the phone instead. I think you’re allowed to call local GP if you are unwell. They get your symptoms over phone. if very unwell, come in otherwise they provide advice over phone. Can get script easily by calling ahead and doing contactless pick up. |
| Would be comfortable to attend or call the hospital | 0.83, p<0.001 | 53 (30%) | If I need to go to the hospital, I would just go. I'm not worried about going to the doctor or the hospital—they would tell me not to come in if they were worried. No of the restrictions apply if you are seeking medical help, you can use common sense to seek help. Even if the hospital is more than 5 km, I’m not worried about going to the hospital. We have a great medical system and I have full faith in them. |
| Don’t go out at all | 0.93, p<0.001 | 8 (4%) | Don't leave house. Not allowed to go interstate, not allowed to leave home. Stay at home, not going to seek help. |
*Kappa result is interpreted as follows: values ≤0 as indicating no agreement and 0.01–0.20 as none to slight, 0.21–0.40 as fair, 0.41–0.60 as moderate, 0.61–0.80 as substantial and 0.81–1.00 as almost perfect agreement (Cohen ref). Kappa results following first round of coding are presented. P values reflect a test against a minimum kappa of 0.7.
†n=25 participants did not respond to these question.
GP, general practitioner.