A systematic review of the literature to identify the Behavioural Response of Adults to Pandemics

Abstract

Introduction: Behavioural changes were acknowledged to be very common among the public during a pandemic. Understanding the behavioural responses and developing intervention practices can effectively control the pandemic situation. So, the current review aimed at identifying the behavioural responses of the public during pandemics. Methodology: In order to achieve the aim of this systematic review, a dedicated search strategy was used to search for the studies using keywords from highly authorized databases. Results: Six studies were included in the review using a qualitative methodology. Reviewing all these qualitative studies showed that the public's protective behaviour during pandemic has changed depending on the location, pandemic stage, and individual risk perceptions. A more individualistic approach to risk management has made people exhibit avoiding behavioural response at early stages and protective behavioural response at late stages of the pandemic. Despite high engagement of the public to media communications, they were blamed for over hyping and variations in the media reports. Finally, one size fit all strategy as found to be not useful because of individual risk perceptions of public during pandemic. Conclusion: Understanding adults' behavioural responses during the pandemic is important because of individualised risk perceptions and behavioural responses of the public. Taking the strengths and limitations of this review, this review's theoretical and practical implications, along with future work, are given.