Regulatory health policies facilitate desired health behaviours in communities, and among
them, smoke-free policies and COVID-19 restrictions have been widely implemented.
Qualitative research studies have explored how these measures and other environmental
influences shape preventive behaviours. The objective of this systematic review was to
synthesize previously published qualitative research, generate across-study themes, and
propose recommendations for behaviour change interventions. We used a comprehensive search
strategy, relevance screening and confirmation, data extraction, quality assessment,
thematic synthesis, and quality-of-evidence assessment. In total, 87 relevant studies were
identified. Findings were grouped under six overarching themes and mapped under three
categories: (i) the political environment, (ii) the sociocultural environment, and (iii)
the physical environment. These findings provide insights into the environmental
influences of behaviour and indicate future interventions may be more effective by
considering moral norms, community norms, policy support, and group identity.