Episodic future thinking and compassion reduce non-compliance urges regarding public health guidelines: a randomised controlled trial

BMC Public Health

Research

Simon T. van Baal¹  Jakob Hohwy²  Antonio Verdejo-García³ 

[1] Cognition and Philosophy Lab, Monash University, 20 Chancellors Walk, 3800, Clayton, VIC, Australia;Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, CV4 7AL, Coventry, UK;Cognition and Philosophy Lab, Monash University, 20 Chancellors Walk, 3800, Clayton, VIC, Australia;Monash Centre for Consciousness & Contemplative Studies, Monash University, 29 Ancora Imparo Way, 3800, Clayton, VIC, Australia;Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, 18 Innovation Walk, 3800, Clayton, VIC, Australia;

关键词: Impulsivity;    Episodic future thinking;    Compassion;    Self-control;    Urges;    Pandemic;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-023-15031-0

 received in 2022-04-12, accepted in 2023-01-11,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPeople often feel urges to engage in activities that violate pandemic public health guidelines. Research on these urges has been reliant on measures of typical behaviour, which fail to capture these urges as they unfold. Guideline adherence could be improved through interventions, but few methods allow for ecologically valid observation of the range of behaviours that pandemic guidelines prescribe.MethodsIn this preregistered parallel randomised trial, 95 participants aged 18–65 from the UK were assigned to three groups using blinded block randomisation, and engaged in episodic future thinking (n = 33), compassion exercises (n = 31), or a control procedure (n = 31). Following an ecological momentary assessment procedure, participants report on the intensity of their occurrent urges (min. 1, max. 10) and their ability to control them. The study further investigates whether, and through which mechanism, state impulsivity and vaccine attitudes affect guideline adherence.ResultsEpisodic future thinking (b = -1.80) and compassion exercises (b = -1.45) reduced the intensity of urges. State impulsivity is associated with stronger urges, but we found no evidence that vaccine hesitancy predicts lesser self-control.ConclusionsWe conclude that episodic future thinking exercises and compassion training may be used to decrease non-compliance urges of individuals who are an acute public health risk for the community, such as those in voluntary isolation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

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