An Alberta Health Services (AHS) document featuring the results of a number of studies focused on attitudes and adherence to COVID-19 guidelines has been obtained by the Western Standard..The 63-page report dated September 2020 focused on factors that “impact attitudes towards or adherence to COVID-19 public health guidelines” and on “what interventions can create more positive attitudes towards following public health guidelines.”.It included data collected from 30 studies compiled from North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand — jurisdictions considered to be somewhat similar to Alberta..A list of key messages from the evidence summary include:.• Studies consistently show higher adherence to COVID-19 guidelines among people who (i) trust government or authorities; (ii) perceive the threat of the virus to be greater; (iii) have a greater knowledge of the pandemic, (iv) who are older; and (v) who identify as a woman..• Accessing information through traditional news media (print; television; radio) is associated with greater guideline adherence, while use of social media is associated with a higher likelihood of endorsing conspiracy beliefs, factual misperceptions and lesser degrees of guideline adherence..• Limited evidence suggests that distinct population groups may require distinct messaging to promote guideline adherence..• No strategies for promoting adherence to public health COVID-19 guidelines have been robustly proven in the published scientific literature. The most promising strategies appear to be communications to increase knowledge about the pandemic and perceived threat of the virus. Moralistic messaging (e.g.linking physical distancing to being a good person/citizen) could produce problematic consequences such as ostracization of individuals who do not adhere to public health guidelines..• As evidence on changing attitudes and behaviours related to COVID-19 is still emerging, medical and public health leaders may benefit from reviewing literature on attitude and behaviour change in other, more widely studied health and societal contexts (e.g., climate change, waste reduction, vaccination or smoking cessation) where theories and frameworks have been established..Recommendations stemming from the study included targeting those with limited knowledge of the pandemic or those that weren’t convinced of the efficacy of public health guidelines as they are “more likely to exhibit consistently poor adherence.”.The groups identified in the study with the “higher risk of non-adherence” to the guidelines include “men, younger people, those who identify as politically conservative, and those who are prone to lower levels of trust in government or science.”.The study also recommended public health content be distributed on social media because “multiple studies found that social media users were less likely to be adherent to public health guidelines.”.The recommendations also suggested officials work with “behavioural scientists and experts in communication sciences” to craft public health messaging designed to influence behaviour change..Other findings in the report said adherence to guidelines was related to individual characteristics such as narcissism, impulsiveness and agreeableness or societal characteristics such as individualism or collectivism..A number of factors were listed categorizing their impact on attitude toward adherence to public health guidelines..For instance, a greater trust in government or authority predicted greater compliance. Other studies linked being female and those with higher incomes with being more compliant while political conservatism was linked to those less compliant..Also included in the report is a breakdown of how political affiliation affected people’s attitudes towards the virus and public health measures..“They report that supporters of the Liberal Party are more likely to be very concerned about the virus (46%) than those who support the Conservative Party (39%), Bloc Quebecois (33%), and People’s Party of Canada (PPC) (29%),” said the report..“Supporters of the Liberal, Green, and New Democratic Parties were slightly more likely to report making behaviour changes (making 63% of recommended changes, on average) than supporters of the Conservative Party (59% of changes), PPC (51%), and Bloc Quebecois (60%).”.A section on research gaps points to a number of important areas that have been “underexplored” including the impact of tailoring specific messaging to particular subgroups such as the Hutterite populations, First Nations Peoples and those experiencing homelessness..Melanie Risdon is a reporter with the Western Standard.,.mrisdon@westernstandardonline.com
