Predictors of social distancing compliance in an Australian sample

Abstract

Pandemics are associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality, and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has been the most fatal coronavirus outbreak of the 21st century. To reduce person-to-person transmission, interventions such as social distancing have been recommended; however, it is anticipated that 80% compliance is required to control the outbreak. A questionnaire was used to assess the factors related to compliance with social distancing restrictions using a modified version of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) that included participants’ understanding of restrictions. The questionnaire included 18 vignettes (violating, non-violating and ambiguous) to assess participants’ knowledge of the social distancing restrictions and intentions to violate them. Participants were also presented the social distancing restrictions relevant at the time of completion and they were asked to consider the restrictions when anticipating their behavior in the vignettes. In line with the predictions of the TPB, intentions to adhere to restrictions and perceived behavioral control predicted participants’ self-reported behaviors. Further, attitudes (ATT) toward social distancing restrictions and knowledge of the restrictions predicted intentions to adhere to them. Public health messaging should aim to increase the understanding of the restrictions, e.g. through the use of example scenarios of permitted and prohibited behaviors. This would be particularly beneficial when changes are implemented to promote the understanding of the restrictions and positive ATT toward them.

Comparing two Behavior Change Approaches in predicting the Intention and COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors among the general population

“…The ndings of the current study also showed that CPBs adoption increases along with mean BI scores in terms of preventing COVID- [35], which was inconsistent with the ndings of the current investigation. The inconsistency may be due to a disconnect between perception and reality, and population factors.…”

“…distancing intention, and frequent hand washing in preventing the COVID-19, respectively[25,33,34]. SN was not a predictor of social distancing intention, according toThacker et al (2022) …”

Viral Anxiety Mediates the Influence of Intolerance of Uncertainty on Adherence to Physical Distancing Among Healthcare Workers in COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The perceived benefits of physical distancing can be enhanced by enhancing knowledge of physical distancing to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Among the general population in Australia, knowledge of the restrictions was reported to predict intention to adhere to physical distancing ( 42 ). Of course, we can consider that healthcare workers may better understand the benefits of physical distancing, and about 70% of participants were nursing professionals or medical doctors in this study.…”

Assessing COVID-19 Health Literacy (CoHL) and its relationships with sociodemographic features, locus of control and compliance with social distancing rules during the first lockdown in France

“…Therefore, it is critical for individuals to have the capacity to differentiate high- versus low-quality health information, obtain accurate information, process and understand information to develop behaviors that allow them to protect themselves and others against the virus. Indeed, Thacker et al [ 3 ] showed that people who knew and understood COVID-19-related restrictions were more likely to adhere to them. Consequently, the overarching goal is to promote citizens to modify everyday social interaction behaviors toward forming new daily habits of health prevention behaviors.…”