Protection motivation theory and social distancing behaviour in response to a simulated infectious disease epidemic.
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| Title: | Protection motivation theory and social distancing behaviour in response to a simulated infectious disease epidemic. |
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| Authors: | Williams, Lynn (AUTHOR), Rasmussen, Susan (AUTHOR), Kleczkowski, Adam (AUTHOR), Maharaj, Savi (AUTHOR), Cairns, Nicole (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Psychology, Health & Medicine. Oct2015, Vol. 20 Issue 7, p832-837. 6p. 2 Charts. |
| Subjects: | Social distancing, Communicable diseases, Epidemics, Intention, Motivation (Psychology), Psychology, Questionnaires, Self-efficacy, Self-evaluation, Mathematical variables, Video games, Theory, Multiple regression analysis, Relative medical risk, Cross-sectional method, Descriptive statistics |
| Geographic Terms: | Scotland |
| Abstract: | Epidemics of respiratory infectious disease remain one of the most serious health risks facing the population. Non-pharmaceutical interventions (e.g. hand-washing or wearing face masks) can have a significant impact on the course of an infectious disease epidemic. The current study investigated whether protection motivation theory (PMT) is a useful framework for understanding social distancing behaviour (i.e. the tendency to reduce social contacts) in response to a simulated infectious disease epidemic. There were 230 participants (109 males, 121 females, mean age 32.4 years) from the general population who completed self-report measures assessing the components of PMT. In addition, participants completed a computer game which simulated an infectious disease epidemic in order to provide a measure of social distancing behaviour. The regression analyses revealed that none of the PMT variables were significant predictors of social distancing behaviour during the simulation task. However, fear (? = .218,p < .001), response efficacy (? = .175,p < .01) and self-efficacy (? = .251,p < .001) were all significant predictors of intention to engage in social distancing behaviour. Overall, the PMT variables (and demographic factors) explain 21.2% of the variance in intention. The findings demonstrated that PMT was a useful framework for understanding intention to engage in social distancing behaviour, but not actual behaviour during the simulated epidemic. These findings may reflect an intention-behaviour gap in relation to social distancing behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] |
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| Database: | Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
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| Abstract: | Epidemics of respiratory infectious disease remain one of the most serious health risks facing the population. Non-pharmaceutical interventions (e.g. hand-washing or wearing face masks) can have a significant impact on the course of an infectious disease epidemic. The current study investigated whether protection motivation theory (PMT) is a useful framework for understanding social distancing behaviour (i.e. the tendency to reduce social contacts) in response to a simulated infectious disease epidemic. There were 230 participants (109 males, 121 females, mean age 32.4 years) from the general population who completed self-report measures assessing the components of PMT. In addition, participants completed a computer game which simulated an infectious disease epidemic in order to provide a measure of social distancing behaviour. The regression analyses revealed that none of the PMT variables were significant predictors of social distancing behaviour during the simulation task. However, fear (? = .218,p < .001), response efficacy (? = .175,p < .01) and self-efficacy (? = .251,p < .001) were all significant predictors of intention to engage in social distancing behaviour. Overall, the PMT variables (and demographic factors) explain 21.2% of the variance in intention. The findings demonstrated that PMT was a useful framework for understanding intention to engage in social distancing behaviour, but not actual behaviour during the simulated epidemic. These findings may reflect an intention-behaviour gap in relation to social distancing behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] |
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| ISSN: | 13548506 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/13548506.2015.1028946 |
