Behavioral measures to fight COVID-19: An 8-country study of perceived usefulness, adherence and their predictors

Abstract

Behavioral measures, such as the wearing of facemasks and maintaining of distance to other people, have been central in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to be important in curbing its spread. We therefore investigated their perceived usefulness, adherence and their predictors in representative online samples in eight countries (France, Germany, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, U.K., U.S.). Of the 7,658 participants, 77.4% rated governmental measures (highest: Germany, lowest: France) as useful and 91.7% reported adherence to them. Adherence was lowest in Russia and Poland, where people felt particularly left alone and not well supported, and in the U.S. and Sweden, where governments showed ambivalent attitudes towards the measures. The highest adherence was reported in countries with very high mortality (U.K., Spain, France) or very positively perceived government communication (Germany). Female gender, higher age, belonging to a risk group, being affected physically and mentally, perception of governmental communication as guided by the interests of people, feeling of being well informed and the level of positive mental health positively predicted both outcomes, while being affected economically negatively predicted both outcomes. Country-specific results are considered in the light of the protection motivation theory and the theory of planned behavior together with potential ways to improve active participation of the population. Overall, we recommend the governments and authorities to stress that each individual can contribute to the control of the COVID-19 situation by adherence to the measures in the public communication. Moreover, they should emphasize the risk of unconscious infection of older individuals by younger people, as well as the importance of physical activity for the protection of mental and physical health especially during the pandemic.

Lived experiences of older adults during the first COVID-19 lockdown: A qualitative study

“…Furthermore, stricter measures were imposed on older adults compared to the rest of the population, and measures were in general stricter in Ticino than in the rest of Switzerland. The ambivalence experienced by participants may be understood in light of an ambivalent attitude towards behavioral anti-COVID-19 measures showed by governments, as other studies have previously found [ 41 ]. Poor communication on the reasons behind such measures and on the differences between Ticino and Italy, and the rest of Switzerland, respectively, may have further contributed to increase participants’ uncertainty.…”

Behavioural response to the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa

“…Literature on behavioural response to Covid-19 is fast emerging [13][14][15][16][17][18]. The limitations highlighted in the context of the pandemic literature prior to Covid-19 holds true for the more recent studies as well.…”

A Comparison of Depression and Anxiety among University Students in Nine Countries during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…However, few studies were created via international collaboration [52]. Additionally, cross-national research regarding mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic frequently refers to the general population [12,[29][30][31][53][54][55][56][57] rather than the student population [45,58,59]. Additionally, in articles related to students' mental health, a binational, rather than cross-national perspective appears more frequently [45,58,59].…”