The Impact of Social Capital on Infection Control Attitudes and Practices: Focusing on Elderly Care Facilities in Goyang City

Abstract

This study examines the impact of social capital on the infection control attitudes and practices of staffs in elderly care facilities and evaluates changes before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. To achieve this, survey data from Goyang City, which has the highest concentration of elderly care facilities nationwide, were utilized. The analysis revealed that: ① Infection control practices improved significantly across all items after the pandemic, particularly in the areas of personal protective equipment usage and environmental management. In contrast, infection control attitudes showed an increase only in the deployment of dedicated personnel, with little change observed in infection education and monitoring attitudes. ② Social capital positively influenced both infection control attitudes and practices, with participation and cooperation among members identified as key factors promoting practical behaviors. ③ Infection control attitudes partially mediated certain practical behaviors, while experiences during the pandemic strongly catalyzed improvements in practice. Notably, even after the pandemic, staffs with higher social capital demonstrated stronger linkages between attitudes and practices, maintaining higher sustainability and effectiveness of infection control behaviors. These findings empirically demonstrate that social capital is a critical factor in translating infection control attitudes into practical behaviors among elderly care facility staff. They also support the need for social capital–based policies and training programs to strengthen infection control capacity in response to external crises such as pandemics.