COVID-19 Information in Sweden: Opinions of Immigrants with Limited Proficiency in Swedish

Figures & data

Table 1. Variables, survey questions, and response options.

Variables	Survey question	Responce Options
Age	How old are you?	15–20 years
		21-30
		31-40
		41-50
		51-60
		61-70
		71 or older
Gender	Are you … ?	Male
		Female
		I don’t want to answer
		Other
Year of arrival	What year did you come to Sweden?	2020
		2019
		2018
		2017
		2016
		2015
		2014
		2013
		2012
		2011 or earlier
		Do not want to answer
Native country	Were you born in a country inside or outside the EU (European Union)?	Within the EU (European Union)
		Outside the EU (European Union)
		Do not know/do not want to answer
SFI level	Which level of SFI do you read?	1
		2
		3
COVID-19 information source(s)	How have you received information about the corona virus in the last seven days? You can select several responses.	Have not received any information
		Friends or acquaintances
		School (SFI, upper secondary school)
		At work
		1177 care guide (phone or online)
		Healthcare
		Media (radio, newspaper, TV)
		Social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, blogger, YouTube)
		Internet search via search engine (e.g. Google, Bing, Yahoo)
		Swedish Public Health Agency website
		Foreign media (e.g. Al Jazeera)
		Swedish news in other languages (e.g. Al Kompis, Aktarr)
		Other ways
Comprehensiveness of COVID-19 information	What do you think about the authorities’ information regarding the new coronavirus?	It should be more extensive
		It is extensive enough
		It should be less extensive
	Do you think you have the information you need about corona virus regarding: The authorities’ work so far? Where you can find new information? Where you can turn for questions? What you can do yourself? Who are the risk groups? The situation in Sweden? The situation globally?	Yes No
Importance of recommendations	How important do you think it is to follow the authorities’ recommendations regarding the corona virus? Staying at home if you have symptoms Not visiting the elderly Keeping distance	Unimportant (1) Quite unimportant (2) Neither important nor unimportant (3) Quite important (4) Important (5)
Possibility to follow recommendation	How do you feel about following the authorities’ recommendations regarding the corona virus? Staying at home if you have symptoms Not visiting the elderly Keeping distance	Very difficult (1) Quite difficult (2) Neither difficult nor difficult (3) Quite easy (4) Very easy (5)

Table 2. Distribution of responses regarding the comprehensiveness of the authorities’ COVID-19 information, by age group.

	It should be less extensive	It is extensive enough	It should be more extensive	n
15–30 years	37 (15%)^a	103 (41%)	109 (44%)	249
31–50 years	13 (6%)^a	93 (46%)	96 (48%)	202
51–70 years	6 (12%)	28 (56%)	16 (32%)	50

asignificant at the .05 level based on z-test.

Table 3. Distribution of responses regarding having the necessary information, by age group.

Do you think you have the information you need about corona virus regarding:	15–30 years	31–50 years	51–70 years	n	Chi-square P value
The authorities’ work so far?
Yes	214 (83%)	157 (79%)^a	47 (96%)^a	418	023*
No	45 (17%)	41 (21%)^b	2 (4%)^b
Where you can find new information?
Yes	197 (87%)	145 (86%)	34 (90%)	376	814
No	29 (13%)	24 (14%)	4 (11%)
Where you can turn for questions?
Yes	171 (83%)	133 (80%)	35 (83%)	339	747
No	35 (17%)	33 (20%)	7 (17%)
What you can do yourself?
Yes	210 (92%)	160 (88%)	47 (100%)	395	027*
No	18 (8%)	22 (12%)	0 (0%)
Who are the risk groups?
Yes	187 (87%)	137 (86%)	48 (98%)	372	067
No	29 (13%)	22 (14%)	1 (2%)
The situation in Sweden?
Yes	200 (87%)	147 (88%)	49 (98%)	386	089
No	29 (13%)	20 (12%)	1 (2%)
The situation globally?
Yes	196 (86%)	137 (84%)^c	47 (98%)^c	380	043*
No	33 (14%)	26 (16%)^d	1 (2%)^d

*significant at the .05 level based on chi-square test.

bsignificant at the .05 level based on z-test.

Table 4. Distribution of responses regarding the importance of following the authorities’ COVID-19 recommendations, by age group.

	Unimportant	Quite unimportant	Neither important nor unimportant	Quite important	Important	n
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
Staying at home if you have symptoms
15–30 years^a	16 (5%)	15 (5%)	19 (6%)	46 (14%)	226 (70%)	322
31–50 years	8 (3%)	10 (4%)	10 (4%)	25 (10%)	191 (78%)	244
51–70 years^a	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	1 (2%)	8 (14%)	48 (84%)	57
Not visiting the elderly 15-
30 years^b	15 (4%)	16 (6%)	20 (8%)	54 (20%)	160 (60%)	265
31–50 years	8 (4%)	3 (1%)	16 (7%)	33 (15%)	163 (73%)	223
51–70 years^b	1 (2%)	0 (0%)	1 (2%)	7 (14%)	42 (82%)	51
Keeping distance
15–30 years^c	20 (7%)	14 (5%)	17 (6%)	54 (17%)	205 (66%)	310
31–50 years	9 (4%)	2 (1%)	9 (4%)	28 (12%)	182 (79%)	299
51–70 years^c	1 (2%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	5 (10%)	46 (89%)	52

asignificant at the .05 level based on Dunn’s test.

Table 5. Distribution of responses regarding the possibility to follow the authorities’ COVID-19 recommendations, by age group.

	Very difficult	Quite difficult	Neither difficult nor easy	Quite easy	Easy	n
	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
Staying at home if you have symptoms
15–30 years^a	60 (19%)	39 (12%)	63 (20%)	56 (18%)	99 (31%)	317
31–50 years^b	31 (13%)	30 (13%)	51 (22%)	47 (20%)	76 (32%)	235
51–70 years^a,b	2 (4%)	2 (4%)	7 (13%)	16 (29%)	29 (52%)	56
Not visiting the elderly
15–30 years	31 (12%)	30 (12%)	37 (15%)	46 (18%)	112 (44%)	256
31–50 years	27 (13%)	25 (12%)	37 (17%)	30 (14%)	95 (44%)	214
51–70 years	5 (10%)	1 (2%)	6 (12%)	15 (29%)	25 (48%)	52
Keeping distance
15–30 years^c,d	59 (19%)	51 (17%)	37 (12%)	59 (19%)	103 (33%)	309
31–50 years^c	25 (11%)	21 (9%)	36 (16%)	47 (20%)	101 (44%)	230
51–70 years^d	4 (8%)	2 (4%)	5 (10%)	13 (26%)	27 (53%)	51

asignificant at the .05-level based on Dunn’s test.