The health impacts of wildfire smoke are an important and growing global issue, as extreme wildfire events are expected to increase in frequency and intensity throughout this century due to climate change. Research into individual protective health decision-making can elucidate how wildfire smoke exposure contributes to adverse health outcomes and aid in public health interventions to mitigate risks. In this study we investigate the role of psychological factors (threat and efficacy perceptions) and social processes (social norms and social support) in shaping protective behavior in response to wildfire smoke. Through semi-structured interviews of forty-five individuals in Northern California, we explore perceptions of threat and efficacy, social processes, and protective behaviors in response to wildfire smoke events between 2018 and 2020. We found that for many participants sensory experiences and engagement with wildfire smoke information were instrumental in forming perceptions of threat and efficacy. Three themes related to social processes emerged: interpreting information together, protecting vulnerable others, and questioning protective actions. Through these themes we show how social norms and social support interact in complex, non-linear ways to influence threat and efficacy perceptions, and directly affect protective health behavior. Finally, we propose a conceptual framework of wildfire smoke protective behavior. This study contributes to a growing body of knowledge within the disaster risk and protective health literatures related to wildfire smoke response. Our findings demonstrate how the study of psychological factors and social processes during natural hazards, like wildfire smoke events, is essential to understanding individual protective health decision-making pathways and ultimately, to developing a more comprehensive view of how individual actions affect exposure.

野火烟雾对健康的影响是一个重要且日益严重的全球问题，因为由于气候变化，预计本世纪极端野火事件的频率和强度都会增加。对个人保护性健康决策的研究可以阐明野火烟雾暴露如何导致不利的健康结果，并有助于公共卫生干预以减轻风险。在这项研究中，我们调查了心理因素（威胁和功效感知）和社会过程（社会规范和社会支持）在形成应对野火烟雾的保护行为中的作用。通过对北加利福尼亚州 45 人的半结构化访谈，我们探讨了对 2018 年至 2020 年间应对野火烟雾事件的威胁和功效、社会过程和保护行为的看法。我们发现，对于许多参与者而言，感官体验和对野火烟雾信息的参与有助于形成对威胁和功效的感知。出现了与社会过程相关的三个主题：共同解释信息、保护易受伤害的他人以及质疑保护行动。通过这些主题，我们展示了社会规范和社会支持如何以复杂的非线性方式相互作用，以影响威胁和功效的认知，并直接影响保护性健康行为。最后，我们提出了野火烟雾防护行为的概念框架。这项研究有助于增加与野火烟雾响应相关的灾害风险和保护性健康文献中的知识体系。我们的研究结果证明了自然灾害期间的心理因素和社会过程的研究，