Perceived Effectiveness, Restrictiveness, and Compliance with Containment Measures against the Covid-19 Pandemic: An International Comparative Study in 11 Countries

Irina Georgieva, Tella Lantta, Jakub Lickiewicz, Jaroslav Pekara, Sofia Wikman, Marina Loseviča, Bevinahalli Nanjegowda Raveesh, Adriana Mihai and Peter Lepping
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Irina Georgieva: Department of Cognitive Science and Psychology, New Bulgarian University, 1618 Sofia, Bulgaria
Tella Lantta: Department of Nursing Science, University of Turku, 20500 Turku, Finland
Jakub Lickiewicz: Faculty of Health Sciences, Jagiellonian University Medical College Krakow, 31-008 Kraków, Poland
Jaroslav Pekara: Paramedic Department, Medical College in Prague, 121 08 Prague, Czech Republic
Sofia Wikman: Department of Criminology, University of Gavle, 80176 Gävle, Sweden
Marina Loseviča: Faculty of Medicine, University of Latvia, LV-1004 Riga, Latvia
Bevinahalli Nanjegowda Raveesh: Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College, Mysore 570001, India
Adriana Mihai: Clinical Department of Medicine GE Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy Science and Technology, 540142 Târgu Mureș, Romania
Peter Lepping: Centre for Mental Health and Society, Bangor University, Bangor LL57 2DG, UK

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 7, 1-15

Abstract: National governments took action to delay the transmission of the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) by implementing different containment measures. We developed an online survey that included 44 different containment measures. We aimed to assess how effective citizens perceive these measures, which measures are perceived as violation of citizens’ personal freedoms, which opinions and demographic factors have an effect on compliance with the measures, and what governments can do to most effectively improve citizens’ compliance. The survey was disseminated in 11 countries: UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, India, Latvia, Poland, Romania, and Sweden. We acquired 9543 unique responses. Our findings show significant differences across countries in perceived effectiveness, restrictiveness, and compliance. Governments that suffer low levels of trust should put more effort into persuading citizens, especially men, in the effectiveness of the proposed measures. They should provide financial compensation to citizens who have lost their job or income due to the containment measures to improve measure compliance. Policymakers should implement the least restrictive and most effective public health measures first during pandemic emergencies instead of implementing a combination of many restrictive measures, which has the opposite effect on citizens’ adherence and undermines human rights.

Keywords: pandemic; coronavirus; containment measures; effectiveness; restrictiveness; compliance; Covid-19; public health measures; human rights; proportionality principle (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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