Visiting crowded places during the COVID-19 pandemic. A panel study among adult Norwegians

Abstract

Non-pharmaceutical interventions, including promotion of social distancing, have been applied extensively in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding cognitive and psychological factors regulating precautionary behavior is important for future management. The present study examines the importance of selected factors as predictors of having visited or intended to visit crowded places. Six online questionnaire-based waves of data collection were conducted in April–October 2020 in a Norwegian panel (≥18 years). Sample size at Wave 1 was 1,400. In the present study, “Visited or intended to visit crowded places” for different types of locations were the dependent variables. Predictors included the following categories of items: Perceived response effectiveness, Self-efficacy, Vulnerability, Facilitating factors and Barriers. Data were analyzed with frequency and percentage distributions, descriptives, correlations, principal components analysis, negative binomial-, binary logistic-, and multiple linear regression, and cross-lagged panel models. Analyses of dimensionality revealed that a distinction had to be made between Grocery stores, a location visited by most, and locations visited by few (e.g., “Pub,” “Restaurants,” “Sports event”). We merged the latter set of variables into a countscore denoted as “Crowded places.” On the predictor side, 25 items were reduced to eight meanscores. Analyses of data from Wave 1 revealed a rather strong prediction of “Crowded places” and weaker associations with “Supermarket or other store for food.” Across waves, in multiple negative binomial regression models, three meanscore predictors turned out to be consistently associated with “Crowded places.” These include “Response effectiveness of individual action,” “Self-efficacy with regard to avoiding people,” and “Barriers.” In a prospective cross-lagged model, a combined Response effectiveness and Self-efficacy score (Cognition) predicted behavior (“Visited or intended to visit crowded places”) prospectively and vice versa. The results of this study suggest some potential to reduce people's visits to crowded locations during the pandemic through health education and behavior change approaches that focus on strengthening individuals' perceived response effectiveness and self-efficacy.

The role of the environment: how mask wearing varies across different activities

“…Evidence about people’s willingness to visit public places during the COVID-19 pandemic indicates that the necessity of the activity may intersect with people’s personal risk assessment and tolerance. Surveys of people’s willingness to engage in various activities found that grocery shopping was the most frequently engaged in activity [ 9 , 47 ] and a principal component analysis suggested that engagement in this specific activity was fundamentally different for people than other less necessary activities, such as attending large gatherings or indoor dining [ 18 ].…”

Social contact patterns during the early COVID-19 pandemic in Norway: insights from a panel study, April to September 2020

“…The questionnaire included detailed questions about their social contacts, exposure to social distancing measures, uptake of preventive measures, and attitudes and risk perception regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. This article focuses on the social contact data and related personal protection measures (hand washing, use of hand sanitiser and face masks) while analyses of other survey topics have been published previously (17, 18) or are planned to be published soon.…”

“…Other findings from the Norwegian CoMix survey have underscored the importance of cognitive and psychological factors in predicting behaviour, in particular identifying predictors of visiting or intending to visit crowded places during the study period (18). Furthermore, the information gathered through social surveys can be complemented by research utilising non-standard data sources.…”

Social contact patterns during the early COVID-19 pandemic in Norway: insights from a panel study, April to September 2020

“…The questionnaire included detailed questions about their social contacts, exposure to social distancing measures, uptake of preventive measures, and attitudes and risk perception regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. This article focuses on the social contact data and related personal protection measures (hand washing, use of hand sanitiser and face masks) while analyses of other survey topics have been published previously [20,21] or are planned to be published soon.…”

“…Other findings from the Norwegian CoMix survey have underscored the importance of cognitive and psychological factors in predicting behaviour, in particular identifying predictors of visiting or intending to visit crowded places during the study period [ 21 ]. Furthermore, the information gathered through social surveys can be complemented by research utilising non-standard data sources.…”