Predictors of changing patterns of adherence to containment measures during the early stage of COVID-19 pandemic: an international longitudinal study

ABSTRACT: Background Identifying common factors that afect public adherence to COVID-19 containment measures can directly inform the development of ofcial public health communication strategies. The present international longitu‑ dinal study aimed to examine whether prosociality, together with other theoretically derived motivating factors (selfefcacy, perceived susceptibility and severity of COVID-19, perceived social support) predict the change in adherence to COVID-19 containment strategies. Method In wave 1 of data collection, adults from eight geographical regions completed online surveys beginning in April 2020, and wave 2 began in June and ended in September 2020. Hypothesized predictors included prosociality, self-efcacy in following COVID-19 containment measures, perceived susceptibility to COVID-19, perceived sever‑ ity of COVID-19 and perceived social support. Baseline covariates included age, sex, history of COVID-19 infection and geographical regions. Participants who reported adhering to specifc containment measures, including physical distancing, avoidance of non-essential travel and hand hygiene, were classifed as adherence. The dependent variable was the category of adherence, which was constructed based on changes in adherence across the survey period and included four categories: non-adherence, less adherence, greater adherence and sustained adherence (which was designated as the reference category). Results In total, 2189 adult participants (82% female, 57.2% aged 31–59 years) from East Asia (217 [9.7%]), West Asia (246 [11.2%]), North and South America (131 [6.0%]), Northern Europe (600 [27.4%]), Western Europe (322 [14.7%]), Southern Europe (433 [19.8%]), Eastern Europe (148 [6.8%]) and other regions (96 [4.4%]) were analyzed. Adjusted

Keywords

Prosociality Coronavirus Adherence Disease containment measures Longitudinal study

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/9147

Citation

Chong, Y.Y., Chien, W.T., Cheng, H.Y. et al. Predictors of changing patterns of adherence to containment measures during the early stage of COVID-19 pandemic: an international longitudinal study. Global Health 19, 25 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-023-00928-7