Effectiveness of Innovation Media for Improving Physical Distancing Compliance during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Quasi-Experiment in Thailand

Hattaya Chutiphimon, Apinya Thipsunate, Atigun Cherdchim, Bootsarakam Boonyaphak, Panat Vithayasirikul, Patiphan Choothong, Swit Vichathai, Pitchayanont Ngamchaliew and Polathep Vichitkunakorn
Additional contact information
Hattaya Chutiphimon: Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla 90110, Thailand
Apinya Thipsunate: Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla 90110, Thailand
Atigun Cherdchim: Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla 90110, Thailand
Bootsarakam Boonyaphak: Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla 90110, Thailand
Panat Vithayasirikul: Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla 90110, Thailand
Patiphan Choothong: Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla 90110, Thailand
Swit Vichathai: Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla 90110, Thailand
Pitchayanont Ngamchaliew: Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla 90110, Thailand
Polathep Vichitkunakorn: Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla 90110, Thailand

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 22, 1-10

Abstract: To flatten the curve of COVID-19 infections, with no effective pharmacological interventions or vaccine available in the imminent future, public health responses must continue to rely on non-pharmacological interventions. We developed three innovation media to promote physical distancing compliance (i.e., a fearful picture, a red one-way arrow sign, and a norm-speech sticker). This study aimed to compare physical distancing compliance between our interventions and conventional interventions. Our study was a quasi-experiment, and we observed a representative sample of university canteen customers via closed-circuit television (CCTV). Each intervention was monitored over non-prime-time hours, per day, on 6–9 August 2020. Among the 400 participants (100 participants in each group), their age group, gender, and physical distancing practices were observed in a university canteen. The number of failures of physical distancing ranged between 93.8% and 17.6%, and on average between 84.2% and 34.2%, dependent on the intervention and the marking point. There were no statistically significant differences in promoting physical distancing compliance between our interventions compared with conventional interventions. However, the participants tended to practice physical distancing at the back of the queue more than at the front, regardless of the interventions.

Keywords: COVID-19; physical distancing; innovation media (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8535/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8535/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:22:p:8535-:d:446620

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().