The latest HERU blog post is the third in a series on our research into public preferences for pandemic lockdowns. This posts asks 'What do UK residents prefer and what are they willing to trade when introducing lockdown restrictions?, and is based on research that was recently published in the BMJ Open journal.
The research used a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to study the lockdown preferences of a sample of adults living in the UK. We asked people to choose between different lockdown scenarios for a future pandemic of a COVID-like disease. For example, we looked at how many excess deaths would be acceptable to have a less strict lockdown. Lockdown preferences were compared across the four UK nations.
For public health responses to any future pandemics to be effective public compliance is essential. Our research on public preferences can inform these discussions.