Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we have all been instructed to follow quarantine protocols to prevent the spread of the virus. The Philippine Department of Health has listed the many ways we can help defeat this invisible enemy, including washing hands frequently with soap and water, maintaining a safe distance from anyone who is coughing or sneezing, not touching the eyes, nose, or mouth, covering the nose and mouth with a bent elbow or tissue when coughing or sneezing, staying at home in general but especially if unwell, and seeking medical attention for fever, cough, and difficulty breathing.
Moreover, during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), we were instructed to wear face masks and later, face shields. However, economic pressure led to the many iterations of community quarantine, which had varying degrees of quarantine protocols. The confused public would ask: What is still prohibited and what is now allowed?
In a developing country like the Philippines, where healthcare facilities are inadequate and medical practitioners are exhausted by COVID-19 cases that have breached the one million mark, it becomes important to ask: What drives people to adhere to quarantine protocols?
Since the COVID-19 pandemic started only last year, few studies have been done about the factors that affect people’s adherence to quarantine protocols. Suplico-Jeong et al. surveyed 334 residents of the province of Iloilo, whose local government has been praised for its effective response to COVID-19.
The results showed that attitude significantly affects adherence to quarantine protocols. Attitude, as defined by Azjen, is an individual’s positive or negative beliefs about performing a specific behavior. The residents of Iloilo hold positive beliefs about adhering to quarantine protocols.
According to Suplico-Jeong et al., the relationship between positive beliefs and the intention to adhere to quarantine protocols is explained by the respondents’ intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is considered the most self-determined form of motivation, which, according to Deci and Ryan, occurs when intrinsic reasons, such as fun, or personally valued goals, such as good health, motivate a person to perform a behavior. People’s positive beliefs about quarantine protocol adherence can be explained by an intrinsic motivator such as good health. This intrinsic motivation, in turn, enables people to better manage their anxiety or fear caused by the uncertainty of this pandemic. A perceived threat to good health, such as exposure to COVID-19, is intrinsically personal. People follow quarantine protocols because of their intrinsic motivation to stay alive.
Seeing how attitude significantly predicts quarantine protocol adherence and how the motivation to stay alive explains this relationship, public health campaigns should feature accurate and updated information on the risks of COVID-19 to increase the positive beliefs people hold about quarantine protocol adherence. Moreover, these public health campaigns should stress personal health as one’s wealth. Going out for a quick grocery run or for work-related activities, especially for those who have been cooped up at home since March 2020, would no longer feel as worrisome or anxiety-inducing if health campaigns can convince them that adherence to quarantine protocols would protect one’s health and therefore, one’s wealth. After all, getting sick in this pandemic is very costly.
However, the motivation to stay alive and to survive this pandemic by following quarantine protocols is now the bare minimum. The conversation on COVID-19 has shifted from merely adhering to quarantine protocols to achieving herd immunity to benefit the entire society. Public health campaigns can continue communicating that adherence to quarantine protocol is a socially desirable behavior that transcends mere self-protection and extends to protection of the family, friends, and the community. However, the message on getting vaccinated should be more pronounced especially in provinces whose populations have the highest risk of infection.
These insights can be used by local government units, the media, and other stakeholders to encourage people to adhere to quarantine protocols and to get vaccinated.
Noel Sajid Murad, MMC is a Research Associate of the Philippine Academy of Management and part-time faculty member at De La Salle University and De La Salle College of Saint Benilde. He is taking up PhD in Communication at the University of the Philippines.