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

ABSTRACT:

Background

People 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.

Methods

In 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 t

SUBMITTER: van Baal ST 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9883827 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature