A synthesis of evidence for policy from behavioural science during COVID-19.

ABSTRACT: Scientific evidence regularly guides policy decisions¹, with behavioural science increasingly part of this process². In April 2020, an influential paper³ proposed 19 policy recommendations ('claims') detailing how evidence from behavioural science could contribute to efforts to reduce impacts and end the COVID-19 pandemic. Here we assess 747 pandemic-related research articles that empirically investigated those claims. We report the scale of evidence and whether evidence supports them to indicate applicability for policymaking. Two independent teams, involving 72 reviewers, found evidence for 18 of 19 claims, with both teams finding evidence supporting 16 (89%) of those 18 claims. The strongest evidence supported claims that anticipated culture, polarizatio

SUBMITTER: Ruggeri K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10764287 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature