Promoting social distancing in a pandemic: Beyond good intentions
Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
Standard
Promoting social distancing in a pandemic : Beyond good intentions. / Falco, Paolo; Zaccagni, Sarah.
I: PLoS ONE, Bind 16, Nr. 12, e0260457, 02.12.2021.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Author
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - Promoting social distancing in a pandemic
T2 - Beyond good intentions
AU - Falco, Paolo
AU - Zaccagni, Sarah
PY - 2021/12/2
Y1 - 2021/12/2
N2 - Do reminders to promote social distancing achieve the desired effects on behavior? Much of the existing literature analyses impacts on people’s intentions to comply. We run a randomised controlled trial in Denmark to test different versions of a reminder to stay home at the beginning of the crisis. Using a two-stage design, we follow up with recipients and analyse their subsequent self-reported behaviour. We find that the reminder increases ex-ante intentions to comply when it emphasises the consequences of non-compliance for the subjects themselves and their families, while it has no effect when the emphasis is on other people or the country as a whole. We also find, however, that impacts on intentions do not translate into equivalent impacts on actions. Only people in poor health react to the reminder by staying home significantly more. Our results shed light on important gaps between people’s intentions and their actions in responding to the recommendations of health authorities.
AB - Do reminders to promote social distancing achieve the desired effects on behavior? Much of the existing literature analyses impacts on people’s intentions to comply. We run a randomised controlled trial in Denmark to test different versions of a reminder to stay home at the beginning of the crisis. Using a two-stage design, we follow up with recipients and analyse their subsequent self-reported behaviour. We find that the reminder increases ex-ante intentions to comply when it emphasises the consequences of non-compliance for the subjects themselves and their families, while it has no effect when the emphasis is on other people or the country as a whole. We also find, however, that impacts on intentions do not translate into equivalent impacts on actions. Only people in poor health react to the reminder by staying home significantly more. Our results shed light on important gaps between people’s intentions and their actions in responding to the recommendations of health authorities.
KW - Faculty of Social Sciences
KW - Medical risk factors
KW - Questionnaires
KW - Social distancing
KW - COVID-19
KW - Pandemics
KW - Virus testing
KW - Surveys
KW - Behavioural and social aspects of health
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0260457
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0260457
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 34855825
VL - 16
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 12
M1 - e0260457
ER -
ID: 291119296