Conway-Moore, Kaitlin;
Birch, Jack M;
McKinlay, Alison R;
Graham, Fiona;
Oliver, Emily;
Bambra, Clare;
Kelly, Michael P;
(2025)
How populist-aligned views affect receipt of non-COVID-19-related public health interventions: a systematic review of quantitative studies.
BMC Public Health
, 25
, Article 2075. 10.1186/s12889-025-23265-3.
Preview |
Text
s12889-025-23265-3.pdf - Published Version Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Background: Globally, there is increasing evidence of resistance to government-led public health interventions in areas such as vaccination, climate change mitigation, sexual and reproductive healthcare, and the implementation of non-pharmaceutical infection control measures. One potential explanation for this could be the documented global rise in populist attitudes, characterised by distrust of scientific, government and other perceived ‘elites.’ While the effect of such attitudes on engagement with COVID-19-related interventions has been extensively considered and researched, their association with the receipt of other public health interventions is currently underexplored. // Methods: To understand how populist-aligned views might influence the receipt of public health interventions addressing areas other than COVID-19, we systematically reviewed quantitative research published across thirteen bibliographic databases and relevant websites between 2008 and 2024. All studies were set in member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). // Results: Across 30 included studies, the vast majority of which were cross-sectional, we found evidence that populist-aligned attitudes have a negative impact on the receipt of public health interventions including vaccinations, sexual and reproductive health care and preventive health care. We also found preliminary evidence of the negative role of populist-aligned attitudes on the receipt of disease screening related to HIV/AIDS and adherence to non-pharmaceutical interventions during times of public health emergency, such as the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. // Conclusions: Although providing limited evidence of causality, the findings from this review suggest the need for future policy in many OECD countries to focus on trust-building between the public and political, scientific, and medical establishments. They also indicate the need for mitigation strategies to overcome the potentially negative impact of populist-style hostility towards out-groups on attitudes related to pressing public health issues such as abortion and family planning, for example by drawing on empathy-centred approaches. // Systematic review registration: PROSPERO registration number CRD42024513124.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | How populist-aligned views affect receipt of non-COVID-19-related public health interventions: a systematic review of quantitative studies |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s12889-025-23265-3 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-23265-3 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Populism, Populist Attitudes, Public Health Interventions, Systematic Review, Quantitative Evidence |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10209425 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
