Evaluating COVID-19 Public Health Messaging in Italy: Self-Reported Compliance and Growing Mental Health Concerns

Abstract

Purpose:The COVID-19 death-rate in Italy continues to climb, surpassing that in every other country. We implement one of the first nationally representative surveys about this unprecedented public health crisis and use it to evaluate the Italian government' public health efforts and citizen responses. Findings: (1) Public health messaging is being heard. Except for slightly lower compliance among young adults, all subgroups we studied understand how to keep themselves and others safe from the SARS-Cov-2 virus. Remarkably, even those who do not trust the government , or think the government has been untruthful about the crisis believe the messaging and claim to be acting in accordance. (2) The quarantine is beginning to have serious negative effects on the population's mental health. Policy Recommendations: Communications should move from explaining to citizens that they should stay at home to what they can do there. We need interventions that make staying following public health protocols more desirable, such as virtual social interactions, online social reading activities, classes, exercise routines, etc. -all designed to reduce the boredom of long term social isolation and to increase the attractiveness of following public health recommendations. Interventions like these will grow in importance as the crisis wears on around the world, and staying inside wears on people. 1 Roma Capitale (Municipality of Rome) convened our "COVID-19 International Behavioral Science Working Group" to (i) strengthen its public health policies and guidance, (ii) suggest new policies and guidance based on rigorous behavioral science, and (iii) develop empirical evidence about behavioral change. We report here empirical results and policy interventions aimed at achieving the objectives of the national Italian Government concerning the containment of the pandemic. Thanks to TIM S.p.A., Fastweb S.p.A., and Indra Italia S.p.A. for financial support. The current version of this paper is at GaryKing.org/covid-italy .

Self-Reported Psychological Problems and Coping Strategies: A Web-Based Study in Peruvian Population During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

“…Our data suggests that women experience higher levels of somatic symptoms and anxiety/insomnia. These ndings are consistent with previous studies reporting greater levels of anxiety (12), fear within women (13), and older adults exposed to public health messages in the context of European quarantined countries, such as Italy (41). Being female and a young adult (29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38) increases risk of anxiety; while older are more likely to report depression, these ndings are similar to Newby's (14) who found that students were at greater risk for depression than older adults.…”

The emotional path to action: Empathy promotes physical distancing and wearing of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The findings of the present studies are remarkable from the perspective that other wellpowered studies have found null effects when testing how messages should be framed to increase adherence to measures during the pandemic (e.g., Barari et al, 2020;but see Lammers et al, 2020;Kitamura & Yamada, 2020). Worth mentioning is the preliminary result that a short empathy-related message appealing to protect the people in one's life whom one typically cares about the most (close friends and family) could not significantly increase the motivation for physical distancing (Favero & Pedersen, 2020).…”

Changes in psychological wellbeing, attitude and information-seeking behaviour among people at the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic: a panel survey of residents in Hubei province, China

“…Prior studies have shown that social and emotional support from family and friends and social interactions can facilitate a better coping with stress, reduce negative emotions and improve mood during the COVID-19 pandemic [16,17]. Also, satisfaction with government performance may increase compliance with preventive measures suggested by the government, thereby reducing infections [18]. However, very few studies have examined the role of neighbourhood support and evaluation of government performance in reducing psychological distress in China.…”