Attitudes, perceived behavioural control, perceived social norm and worry increase the likelihood of distancing behaviours
The review in brief
The evidence shows that there’s generally a weak link between factors that can be changed (like attitudes and beliefs) and people’s distancing behaviours. Perceived control, worry, social norms, and attitudes have stronger links to distancing behaviours than the other factors considered in this review, but are still considered weak.
What is this review about?
This review is about understanding how to get people to follow health rules like social and physical distancing, which are important to stop the spread of COVID-19. To make good health campaigns, we need to know what influences people’s decisions to follow these rules. This review looks at what factors can be changed to help people practice distancing.
What is the aim of this review?
This Campbell systematic review looks at the factors that can be changed to encourage physical and social distancing during COVID-19. It summarises evidence from 91 studies.
What are the main findings of this review?
What studies are included?
The review included 91 studies from 29 different countries, all done during the COVID-19 pandemic. About half of the studies were high quality. The other studies had issues like not explaining how they measured distancing or not giving enough details about the study or participants.
What determinants were associated with social/physical distancing?
The review found that things like perceived control over behaviour, social norms, and attitudes are strongly linked to physical distancing. Worry about COVID-19, belief in the effectiveness of distancing, attitudes, self-confidence in doing the behaviour, and social norms are strongly linked to social distancing.
What do the findings of this review mean?
Knowing what factors influence distancing behaviours can help create better public health campaigns for future COVID-19 waves or other infections. Campaigns should focus on changing attitudes, perceived control, and social norms. These interventions need to be tested to see how well they work.
How up-to-date is this review?
The authors of this review employed search strategies intended to capture studies up until October 2021.