Manipulating risk of infection and appeal to public benefit increase compliance with infection control measures in a hypothetical pandemic scenario.
To limit an infectious outbreak, the public must be informed about the infection risk and be motivated to comply with infection control measures. Perceiving a situation as threatening and seeing benefits to complying may be necessary to motivate for compliance. The current study used a preregistered...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2022-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274024 |
| _version_ | 1797978099084689408 |
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| author | Sebastian Bjørkheim Bjørn Sætrevik |
| author_facet | Sebastian Bjørkheim Bjørn Sætrevik |
| author_sort | Sebastian Bjørkheim |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | To limit an infectious outbreak, the public must be informed about the infection risk and be motivated to comply with infection control measures. Perceiving a situation as threatening and seeing benefits to complying may be necessary to motivate for compliance. The current study used a preregistered survey experiment with a 2-by-2 between-subject design to investigate if emphasizing high infection risk and appealing to societal benefits impacted intention to comply with infection control measures. The results from a representative Norwegian sample (N = 2533) show that describing a high (as opposed to low) personal risk scenario had a small main effect on compliance. Further, appealing to public (as opposed to self-interested) benefits also had a small main effect. There was no interaction between risk scenario and motivational emphasis. The results suggest that to maximize compliance, information about disease outbreak should emphasize the individual risk of contracting the disease, and could also underline the public value of limiting infection spread. These findings can inform health authorities about the motives underlying compliance with infection control measures during an infectious disease outbreak. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:17:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ad3b7ff9ad4443d5a2f98f06fee87380 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:17:37Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-ad3b7ff9ad4443d5a2f98f06fee873802022-12-24T05:33:10ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-011711e027402410.1371/journal.pone.0274024Manipulating risk of infection and appeal to public benefit increase compliance with infection control measures in a hypothetical pandemic scenario.Sebastian BjørkheimBjørn SætrevikTo limit an infectious outbreak, the public must be informed about the infection risk and be motivated to comply with infection control measures. Perceiving a situation as threatening and seeing benefits to complying may be necessary to motivate for compliance. The current study used a preregistered survey experiment with a 2-by-2 between-subject design to investigate if emphasizing high infection risk and appealing to societal benefits impacted intention to comply with infection control measures. The results from a representative Norwegian sample (N = 2533) show that describing a high (as opposed to low) personal risk scenario had a small main effect on compliance. Further, appealing to public (as opposed to self-interested) benefits also had a small main effect. There was no interaction between risk scenario and motivational emphasis. The results suggest that to maximize compliance, information about disease outbreak should emphasize the individual risk of contracting the disease, and could also underline the public value of limiting infection spread. These findings can inform health authorities about the motives underlying compliance with infection control measures during an infectious disease outbreak.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274024 |
| spellingShingle | Sebastian Bjørkheim Bjørn Sætrevik Manipulating risk of infection and appeal to public benefit increase compliance with infection control measures in a hypothetical pandemic scenario. PLoS ONE |
| title | Manipulating risk of infection and appeal to public benefit increase compliance with infection control measures in a hypothetical pandemic scenario. |
| title_full | Manipulating risk of infection and appeal to public benefit increase compliance with infection control measures in a hypothetical pandemic scenario. |
| title_fullStr | Manipulating risk of infection and appeal to public benefit increase compliance with infection control measures in a hypothetical pandemic scenario. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Manipulating risk of infection and appeal to public benefit increase compliance with infection control measures in a hypothetical pandemic scenario. |
| title_short | Manipulating risk of infection and appeal to public benefit increase compliance with infection control measures in a hypothetical pandemic scenario. |
| title_sort | manipulating risk of infection and appeal to public benefit increase compliance with infection control measures in a hypothetical pandemic scenario |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274024 |
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