"Restoring confidence

From March 17 to May 11, 2020, France experienced a totally unprecedented situation. 8 weeks of confinement, experienced differently by everyone. How and why did the French comply, or not comply, with the imposed rules? Marlène Guillon and Pauline Kergall investigated this thorny question.

Why a survey on confinement? "Because we had time for it," jokes Marlène Guillon from the Montpellier Research Laboratory in Economics*. But above all, because right from the start of this very special period, the researcher noticed that the reactions of those around her to this new situation varied enormously. "Some people played the game very rigorously, while others didn't at all, continuing to go out and meet despite the instructions in force. So I wanted to find a way of understanding these different attitudes".

With Pauline Kergall, a doctoral student at the MRE laboratory, they set up an online questionnaire and recruited over 1,900 volunteers between April 16 and 30. Volunteers answered 57 questions designed to better understand their relationship with confinement: salary, work situation during confinement, perception of their state of health, number of outings per week, confidence in the government to manage the crisis.

Confidence problem

Marlène Guillon and Pauline Kergall then sifted through the volunteers' responses. Among the major trends to emerge from the survey, the researchers note that attitudes to confinement are directly correlated with several factors, including: perception of the threat posed by Covid-19, perceived benefits of confinement, well-being during this period (see box) and confidence in the government to manage this crisis.

Overall, 74% of respondents agreed somewhat or totally with containment," point out the researchers, who admit they were surprised that the measure was so overwhelmingly supported. It seems to have been the only thing that seemed to work for them, probably because there was nothing else available at the time", says Marlène Guillon.

In the second half of April, the situation seemed confused: "masks were in short supply, tests were lacking, and the debate over hydroxychloroquine was front and center in the media", recalls Marlène Guillon. As a result, only 30% of volunteers said they trusted the government to manage the crisis. This percentage declined over the two weeks of the survey. And yet, trust is a major issue: "those who said they trusted the government to manage the crisis were also those who complied most with the rules laid down during the lockdown", explains Pauline Kergall.

Digital plotting

Trust, essential for respecting containment. But that's not all. The researchers also took advantage of the survey to explore how the French felt about the digital tracking application now known as StopCovid, which was being developed at the time. The principle: trace the contacts of an infected person via their cell phone. " We wanted to know whether the French would be willing to use it, by asking two questions: do you find this type of application acceptable, and are you likely to install it? At the time, 42% of volunteers considered such an application to be somewhat or totally acceptable.

Those who found this application unacceptable were precisely those who had the least confidence in the government," note the researchers. This is a major lesson, as it is estimated that 70% of the population would need to install the application for it to be fully effective", they add. A lesson that could also prove extremely useful in the event of future containment. "This information could help determine the communication strategies to be implemented to accompany such measures, in order to restore confidence".

Wellness objective

During confinement, did you feel isolated, depressed, stressed, anxious or bored? Never, rarely, sometimes, often, all the time? Using these questions, Marlène Guillon and Pauline Kergall determined a "well-being index" for the volunteers. " Depending on the answers, this index was quantified from 0 to 16," explain the researchers, who found that those with a high well-being index and who experience confinement rather well are also those who adhere to it the best. " In particular, we noted that those with the lowest well-being index were also those who reported going out the most, for example", explains Pauline Kergall. " To improve adherence to confinement, it is therefore important to support those who do not experience it well, for example by setting up remote psychological support services", recommend the researchers.

*MRE: 7491 host team (UM)