Data_Sheet_1_One Hundred and Sixty-One Days in the Life of the Homopandemicus in Serbia: The Contribution of Information Credibility and Alertness in Predicting Engagement in Protective Behaviors.PDF

COVID-19 pandemic is a long-lasting process associated with dynamic changes within society and in individual psychological responses. Effective communication of measures by credible sources throughout the epidemic is one of the crucial factors for the containment of the disease, and the official communication about pandemics is straightforwardly directed toward changes in behavior via engagement in (self-)protective measures. Calls for the adherence to these measures are aimed at the general population, but people's reactions to these calls vary depending on, for example, their individual differences in cognitive and emotional responses to the situation. The focus of our study was the general narrative about the epidemic as conveyed by both state officials and media outlets in times of decreased social contacts due to the quarantine, in which relying on these sources of information is even more pivotal. Our aim was to explore the stability of the proposed mediational model during the course of the epidemic in Serbia. In the model, we tested the relationship between perceived credibility of information (PCI) and two types of protective behavior—the actual self-protective behavior (ASPB) and the hypothetical protective behavior (HPB), as well as the potential mediating role of alertness in these relationships time-wise. A cross-sectional study (N = 10,782, female = 79.1%) was being administered daily during the first epidemic wave and in three more 2-week time frames during the second wave. Based on the variability of these measures during the first epidemic wave, three stages of psychological responses were mapped (acute, adaptation, and relaxation stage), which were observed, with some deviations, also in the second wave. The mediational model was relatively robust after the initial few weeks, but the strength of pairwise relationships was more changeable. With both types of protective behaviors, the predictive power of PCI was partially mediated through alertness. This suggests that, while individual differences in cognitive and affective responses are important, so is coherent, focused, and credible communication in all stages of the epidemic, which emphasizes the communality aspect of the social containment of the infection. Our findings can thus be valuable in informing the planning of effective future communication.

COVID-19疫情是一场长期的社会进程，伴随着社会内部及个体心理反应的动态变化。在整个疫情期间，由可信来源传播的防疫措施信息是遏制疫情的关键因素之一。官方关于疫情的宣传直接指向通过参与（自我）防护措施来改变行为。呼吁民众遵守这些措施旨在普遍人群中，但人们对这些呼吁的反应因个体在认知和情感反应上的差异而异。本研究聚焦于疫情时期因隔离导致社交接触减少时，官方及媒体传达的关于疫情的普遍叙事。我们旨在探究在塞尔维亚疫情过程中所提出的调节模型的稳定性。在该模型中，我们测试了信息感知可信度（PCI）与两种防护行为——实际自我防护行为（ASPB）和假设性防护行为（HPB）之间的关系，以及警觉性在这些关系中的潜在调节作用。一项横断面研究（N = 10,782，女性 = 79.1%）在第一波疫情期间每日进行，并在第二波疫情的三个两周时间段内进行。基于这些指标在第一波疫情中的变化，我们绘制了三个心理反应阶段（急性期、适应期和放松期），这些阶段在第二波疫情中也观察到，尽管存在一些偏差。调节模型在最初的几周内相对稳健，但成对关系的强度更为多变。对于两种防护行为，PCI的预测力部分是通过警觉性调节的。这表明，尽管认知和情感反应的个体差异很重要，但在疫情的各个阶段，连贯、专注且可信的沟通也同样重要，这强调了社会防控感染中的共性方面。因此，我们的发现对于指导未来有效沟通的计划具有宝贵的参考价值。