Table 2.

Principles for effective public health communication to influence health behaviour.

theme	findings summary	implication	studies
trust	low trust in government was associated with low adherence to behavioural public health interventions (NPIs)	information should be conveyed by trusted sources (e.g. health authorities)	N = 10[23–25,27,29,31–35]
clarity and consistency	too many (often conflicting, unclear) messages were seen as a barrier to adherence (causing ‘alert fatigue’/information overload)	information should be conveyed clearly, and mixed messages should be avoided	N = 9[25,27,29–35]
control	messaging focused on supporting autonomy, or being authoritative (but not inducing ‘control aversion’) was associated with higher adherence	communication should strike a balance between being authoritative but avoiding language seen as controlling (e.g. ‘you must’)	N = 5[23,27–29,33]