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. 2025 Jul 14;57(8):223.
doi: 10.3758/s13428-025-02743-x.

Collecting behavioural data across countries during pandemics: Development of the COVID-19 Risk Assessment Tool

Gjalt-Jorn Peters  1 , Dominika Kwasnicka  2 , Gill A Ten Hoor  3 , Rik Crutzen  4 , Tugce Varol  4 , Lisa Marie Warner  5 , Mahdi Algargoosh  6   7 , Eskinder Eshetu Ali  8 , Mudassir Anwar  9 , Sali Rahadi Asih  10 , Zuhal Feryal Baltas  11 , Emma Berry  12 , Kebede Beyene  6 , Katarzyna Anna Campbell  13 , Bruno Moreira Carneiro  14 , Laura Castillo-Eito  15 , Amy Hai Yan Chan  6 , Samuel Suk-Hung Chan  6 , Sabrina Cipolletta  16 , Ann DeSmet  17   18 , Triana Kesuma Dewi  19 , Alexandra Lelia Dima  20   21   22   23 , Jorge Encantado  24 , Tracy Epton  25 , João Figueiredo  26 , Gustavo DalCin Fracaroli  27 , Aurelie Gauchet  28   29 , Gebremedhin Beedemariam Gebretekle  30 , Pierre Gérain  17 , Cristina Albuquerque Godinho  31 , Lisa Graham-Wisener  12 , James A Green  32 , Jenny M Groarke  33 , Thomas Gültzow  1   4 , Elif Basak Guven  34 , Roel C J Hermans  35 , Sander Hermsen  36 , Jennifer Inauen  37 , Angelos P Kassianos  38   39 , Tatiana Valerievna Kazantseva  40 , Els Keyaerts  41 , Laura Maria König  42 , Daniela Lange  5 , Emelien Lauwerier  1 , Yongchan Lie  4 , Andrian Liem  43 , Aleksandra Luszczynska  44 , Marta M Marques  45 , Hannah Catherine Moore  46 , Chris Noone  33 , Johanna Nurmi  47   48 , Ratri Nurwanti  49 , Elif Suna Ozbay  50 , Iga Palacz-Poborczyk  44 , Rebecca Anne Pedruzzi  51 , Louise Poppe  52 , Lucy Mabel Porter  53 , Daniel Powell  54 , Bruna Salati Nan Rinaldi  55 , Alexis Ruffault  56 , Carsten Schmitz  57 , Urte Scholz  58 , Ana-Maria Schweitzer  59 , Yasemin Selekoğlu Ok  60 , Medha Shree  61 , Carolina C Silva  62 , Yasinta Astin Sokang  63 , Albert W Tam  64 , Mei Yee Tang  65 , Silvia Caterina Maria Tomaino  16 , Samantha Barbara van Beurden  53 , Stefan Verweij  66 , Stan Vluggen  4   67 , Rochelle E Watkins  68 , Szilvia Zörgő  4 , Sylvia Roozen  4
Affiliations

Collecting behavioural data across countries during pandemics: Development of the COVID-19 Risk Assessment Tool

Gjalt-Jorn Peters et al. Behav Res Methods. .

Abstract

Tools that can be used to collect behavioural data during pandemics are needed to inform policy and practice. The objective of this project was to develop the Your COVID-19 Risk tool in response to the global spread of COVID-19, aiming to promote health behaviour change. We developed an online resource based on key behavioural evidence-based risk factors related to contracting and spreading COVID-19. This tool allows for assessing risk and provides instant support to protect individuals from infection. The Risk Estimation Questions assessed users' location, age, gender, work environment, day-to-day behaviours currently performed, and conditions under which these behaviours would change. Users were also asked to estimate how often they keep their distance from others in public and regularly wash their hands, and the procedures they follow to do so. A multidisciplinary research team of more than 150 international experts developed the tool. Over 60,000 users in more than 150 countries have assessed their risk and provided data. The majority of respondents reported that they almost always keep their distance from others in public places, and most participants reported washing their hands after touching public or shared surfaces or when entering buildings. The tool, data, and results were openly shared to support government and health agencies developing behaviour change interventions. This tool creates a blueprint for similar digital infrastructure that can be replicated and used in future pandemics.

Keywords: COVID-19; Health behaviour change; Impact; People; Risk; Strategies; Systems.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval, consent to participate and consent for publication: Although this project implemented scientific insights, it was itself developed as a risk estimation tool, not as a scientific study; hence, no ethical approval was sought at this stage, and tool users were not participants in a study, and so there was no informed consent to study participation. The tool only stored anonymised data (i.e., no personal data as per the General Data Protection Regulation were stored). Competing interests: The authors have no competing interests to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
An example of the graphic representation of risk estimates
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Example of an acyclic behaviour change diagram linking the behaviour social distancing to sub-determinants and example tailored messages in the ‘Application’ frames
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
A world map showing the number of tool users across countries
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
An example of a CIBER (confidence interval-based estimation of relevance) plot, showing three relevant and two irrelevant determinants in the Dutch subsample
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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