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. 2024 Jan 17;14(1):63.
doi: 10.3390/bs14010063.

COVID-19 Personal Protective Behaviors during Large Social Events: The Value of Behavioral Observations

Ashley Gould  1 , Lesley Lewis  2 , Lowri Evans  3 , Leanne Greening  4 , Holly Howe-Davies  5 , Jonathan West  1 , Chris Roberts  5 , John A Parkinson  6
Affiliations

COVID-19 Personal Protective Behaviors during Large Social Events: The Value of Behavioral Observations

Ashley Gould et al. Behav Sci (Basel). .

Abstract

Within the context of reopening society in the summer of 2021, as the UK moved away from 'lockdowns', the Government of Wales piloted the return of organized 'mass gatherings' of people at a number of test events. The current study reports behavioral observations that were made at two of the test events to inform this process. The researchers were particularly interested in four key factors: how (1) context within a venue, (2) environmental design, (3) staffing and social norms, and (4) time across an event, affected the personal protective behaviors of social distancing and face-covering use. Data collection was undertaken by trained observers. Adherence to protective behaviors was generally high, but there is clear evidence that these behaviors were shaped in a systematic way by the environment, situational cues, and the passage of time during the events. Some instances of large-scale non-adherence to personal protective behaviors were documented. An analysis within a dual-process framework suggests ways to understand and respond to supporting target health behaviors in groups of people where intervention is deemed valuable, such as in complex or ambiguous contexts. This is one of the first studies to include a 'true' behavioral measure in understanding human responses to COVID-19. It demonstrates that behavioral observations can add precision and granularity to understanding human behavior in complex real-world contexts. Given the significant physical and mental health burden created acutely and chronically by COVID-19, this work has implications for how governments and organizations support target populations in other complex challenges facing us today, such as in sustainability, and healthy lifestyle behaviors. An individual's intentions are not always matched by their actions, and so the findings support a balanced liberal paternalistic approach where system-level changes support appropriate individual-level decisions to engender collective responsibility and action.

Keywords: COVID-19; behavior; dual-process; mass-gathering; observation; prevention.

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Conflict of interest statement

At the time the research was conducted, A.G., L.L., J.W., L.E., L.G. and H.H.-D. all worked for Public Health Wales. C.R. worked for the Welsh Government. All authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Adherence rates to social distancing and wearing face coverings over the duration of the Tafwyl event.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Situational strategies to support COVID-19-safe behaviors.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Grants and funding

This work received financial support from the Welsh Government.

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