An experimental COVID-19 messaging study in a representative sample of the Scottish population:  Increasing physical distancing intentions through self-efficacy

Chantal den Daas; Marie Johnston; Gill Hubbard; Diane Dixon

doi:10.1111/bjhp.12632

An experimental COVID-19 messaging study in a representative sample of the Scottish population: Increasing physical distancing intentions through self-efficacy

Chantal den Daas^* (Corresponding Author), Marie Johnston, Gill Hubbard, Diane Dixon

^*Corresponding author for this work

University of the Highlands and Islands

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

3 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Objectives
Self-efficacy is important for adherence to transmission-reducing behaviours (e.g., physical distancing) as also shown in the CHARIS project. We aimed to show that a theory-based short message can increase physical distancing self-efficacy and intentions to keep physical distance.
Design
Structured telephone surveys with a randomly selected nationally representative sample of adults in Scotland (N = 497).
Methods
Participants were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions: message condition (short message to increase self-efficacy via vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion and emotional arousal) or control condition (no message). Followed by measures for self-efficacy and intention for physical distancing on 4-point scales. Adherence to physical distancing was assessed on a 5-point frequency scale (never – always).
Results
Using mediation analyses with bootstrapping procedures, we first confirmed that self-efficacy was associated indirectly with adherence, via higher intentions in a partial mediation (unstandardized indirect effect .21, 958–.25). The message increased self-efficacy; participants receiving the message reported higher self-efficacy (M = 4.23, SD = .80) compared to participants in the control condition (M = 4.08, SD = .77; standardized regression coefficient = .19, p

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	439-450
Number of pages	12
Journal	British Journal of Health Psychology
Volume	28
Issue number	2
Early online date	1 Nov 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/bjhp.12632
Publication status	Published - May 2023

Bibliographical note

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful to all the participants of the Scottish Health Council (SHC) Public Engagement Group and the NHS Research Scotland Primary Care Patient and Public Involvement. CHARIS was funded via a grant from the Chief Scientist Office, Edinburgh (COV/ABN/20/07).

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Keywords

adherence
COVID-19
intentions
messaging
physical distancing
self-efficacy

Access to Document

10.1111/bjhp.12632Licence: CC BY-NC

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© 2022 The Authors. British Journal of Health Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Psychological Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
Final published version, 257 KBLicence: CC BY-NC

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Cite this

An experimental COVID-19 messaging study in a representative sample of the Scottish population: Increasing physical distancing intentions through self-efficacy. / den Daas, Chantal (Corresponding Author); Johnston, Marie; Hubbard, Gill et al.
In: British Journal of Health Psychology, Vol. 28, No. 2, 05.2023, p. 439-450.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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