8.K. Workshop: Communication and adherence to public health measures in response to Covid-19 in Ireland
Authors:   Organised by: University College Cork (Ireland),   Chair persons: Catherine Darker (Ireland), Gerard Molloy (Ireland)
Published: October 2021

Rationale and objectives

Governments across the world have implemented unprecedented public health measures to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus. Three research teams from Ireland, based in Trinity College Dublin (TCD), National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG), and University College Cork, (UCC) were funded by the Health Research Board and the Irish Research Council to conduct research that would inform policy and practice in relation to the pandemic. The objective of this workshop is to present policy-relevant findings on the communication of public health measures on Covid-19 and factors associated with adherence to Covid-19 guidelines and regulations (e.g., hand washing, social distancing, travel restrictions and mask-wearing), drawing on the outputs from large scale, nationally representative quantitative surveys, a qualitative interview study, and a content analysis of COVID-19 poster communications.

Workshop- added value

The workshop will involve contributions from public health and behavioural scientists. It will provide a comprehensive overview of sociodemographic and psychosocial factors associated with adherence to public health guidelines and regulations on Covid-19 and of the extent to which the Irish Government's communication strategy adequately addressed these issues.

Coherence between the presentations

All of the research to be presented was conducted during the early phase of the pandemic response in Ireland. The TCD team will present findings from cross-sectional weekly telephone surveys of adults resident on the island of Ireland (75:25 split between ROI & NI), conducted over eight weeks. A range of factors associated with adherence to national guidelines on handwashing and social distancing will be addressed, including socioeconomic status, threat perceptions, fear of COVID-19, response efficacy and self-efficacy, response cost and social norms, mood, loneliness, and self-reported health. The NUIG team aimed to identify psychosocial determinants of adherence to physical distancing and to determine whether Government of Ireland COVID-19 communications adequately address the determinants. The findings to be presented will draw on a nationally representative cross-sectional survey as part of the International COVID-19 Awareness and Responses Evaluation (iCARE) study, a qualitative interview study, and a content analysis of COVID-19 poster communications. The UCC team will present the findings from a series of four large, nationally representative cross-sectional telephone surveys, focused on the level of adherence and major socio-demographical determinants of adherence to travel restrictions and wearing of face coverings during the early phase of the pandemic response in Ireland. All presenters will reflect on the challenges of conducting applied research during a rapidly changing international crisis.

Key messages

Adherence to the public health measures was high overall, but with significant variation among sociodemographic groups and different factors influencing adherence to the different measures. Government communications to promote physical distancing could be refined to better address key barriers and facilitators of this behaviour.