Health protective behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic: Risk adaptation or habituation?

Dylan Martin-Lapoirie, Kathleen Mccoll, Karine Gallopel-Morvan (), Pierre Arwidson and Jocelyn Raude ()
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Kathleen Mccoll: EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP], UR - Université de Rennes, ARENES - Arènes: politique, santé publique, environnement, médias - UR - Université de Rennes - Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Rennes - EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP] - UR2 - Université de Rennes 2 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, RSMS - Recherche sur les services et le management en santé - UR - Université de Rennes - EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP] - INSERM - Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Karine Gallopel-Morvan: ARENES - Arènes: politique, santé publique, environnement, médias - UR - Université de Rennes - Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Rennes - EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP] - UR2 - Université de Rennes 2 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, RSMS - Recherche sur les services et le management en santé - UR - Université de Rennes - EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP] - INSERM - Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP], IDM - Institut du Management - EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP]
Pierre Arwidson: Santé publique France - French National Public Health Agency [Saint-Maurice, France]
Jocelyn Raude: UR - Université de Rennes, EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP], SHS - Département des sciences humaines et sociales - EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP], ARENES - Arènes: politique, santé publique, environnement, médias - UR - Université de Rennes - Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Rennes - EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP] - UR2 - Université de Rennes 2 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, RSMS - Recherche sur les services et le management en santé - UR - Université de Rennes - EHESP - École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique [EHESP] - INSERM - Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: Many epidemiological works show that human behaviours play a fundamental role in the spread of infectious diseases. However, we still do not know much about how people modify their Health Protective Behaviours (HPB), such as hygiene or social distancing measures, over time in response to the health threat during an epidemic. In this study, we examined the role of the epidemiological context in engagement in HPB through two possible mechanisms highlighted by research into decision-making under risk: risk adaptation and risk habituation. These two different mechanisms were assumed to explain to a large extent the temporal variations in the public's responsiveness to the health threat during the COVID-19 pandemic. To test them, we used self-reported data collected through a series of 25 cross-sectional surveys conducted in France among representative samples of the adult population, from March 2020 to September 2021 (N = 50,019). Interestingly, we found that both mechanisms accounted relatively well for the temporal variation in the adoption of social distancing during the pandemic, which is remarkable given their different assumptions about the underlying social cognitive processes involved in response to a health threat. These results suggest that strengthening the incentives to encourage people to maintain health protective behaviours and to counter risk habituation effects is crucial to disease control and prevention over time.

Keywords: Risk adaptation; Risk habituation; Prevalence-elasticity; Health protective behaviours; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-02
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04389247v1
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Published in Social Science & Medicine, 2024, 342 (1), pp.116531. ⟨10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116531⟩

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Journal Article: Health protective behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic: Risk adaptation or habituation? (2024)
Working Paper: Health protective behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic: Risk adaptation or habituation? (2024)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04389247

DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.116531

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