Habits and Reflective Processes in COVID-19 Transmission-reducing Behaviors: Examining Theoretical Predictions in a Representative Sample of the Population of Scotland.
Ann Behav Med
; 57(11): 910-920, 2023 10 16.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37319346
During the COVID-19 pandemic we were all asked to adopt protective behaviors, for example, keeping distance from people, wearing face masks, and handwashing. When people do the same thing repeatedly in the same situation, that behavior is likely to become a habit. As habits are generally easier to perform and maintain than planned behaviors, understanding whether the protective behaviors we adopted during COVID-19 became habitual will help us understand how best to support people to adopt infection protective behaviors in future. In this study we examined whether protective behaviors became habitual over time during the pandemic. We found that handwashing was the most habitual behavior. This is likely because hand washing was a behavior that people already regularly performed pre-pandemic. Wearing face masks was the only behavior to become more habitual over time. People with stronger habits were more likely to perform the recommendations about handwashing and physical distancing. When you want people to perform a new protective behavior this can be accomplished by making a plan to do it. Following through on these plans will eventually form habits. Habitually performed behaviors that prevent COVID-19 might also help prevent other infections and could therefore improve population health.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Ann Behav Med
Journal subject:
CIENCIAS DO COMPORTAMENTO
Year:
2023
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United kingdom