We consider a two-patch Susceptible-Infected-Recovered epidemic model
that incorporates awareness-driven behavioural changes in both contact and mobility
patterns. Individuals modify their behaviour in response to a perceived risk of infection, which is modelled through two awareness variables that depend either on the
current or past disease prevalence in each patch. We qualitatively analyse the model
through stability and bifurcation theory and derive threshold conditions that determine the existence and stability of the biologically relevant equilibria. We find that
awareness-induced behavioural changes in contact and mobility can destabilise mixed
equilibria – where the disease persists in one patch only – and contribute to the emergence of stable co-endemic states. When awareness depends on past epidemic values,
the stability analysis shows that mixed equilibria may lose stability via Hopf bifurcations, depending on the sign of some awareness-related parameters. Finally, the
impact of the behaviour-related parameters on the epidemic dynamics is investigated
through numerical simulations.