Analyzing situational awareness through public opinion to predict adoption of social distancing amid pandemic COVID-19

Social media heterogeneity and preventive behaviours during the COVID-19 outbreak: a survey on online shopping

BACKGROUND

Residents' adoption of preventive behaviours proved beneficial in preventing the large-scale transmission of the virus during the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak. It is critical to investigate how social media triggers residents' preventive behaviour decisions during the COVID-19 outbreak.

METHODS

This paper selected online shopping as a specific preventive behaviour for empirical investigation. An online cross-sectional survey was conducted through the Sojump website from 1 to 15 March 2020, and a total of 1,289 valid questionnaires were collected from China. This paper uses multiple regression analysis to investigate the heterogeneous impacts of different information sources on residents' online shopping willingness and online shopping behaviour and the heterogeneous impacts of different information content in social media on the transformation of residents' online shopping willingness and online shopping behaviour.

RESULTS

The findings indicate that both official-media and self-media positively promote residents' online shopping willingness and behaviour, with official-media having a stronger promotional effect than self-media. Furthermore, official-media and self-media can collaboratively promote residents' online shopping willingness and online shopping behaviour. The ease-of-use and usefulness of information significantly promoted the transformation of residents' online shopping willingness.

CONCLUSIONS

This study analyses the heterogeneous impacts of social media on residents' preventive behaviours from the perspectives of information source differentiation and information content differentiation, which enriches related studies and provides feasible paths for promoting residents' preventive behaviours.

Evaluating the Knowledge of and Behavior Toward COVID-19 and the Possibility of Isolating at a City Level: Survey Study

BACKGROUND

Mass testing campaigns were proposed in France during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic to detect and isolate asymptomatic individuals infected by SARS-CoV-2. During mass testing in Saint-Étienne (February 2021), we performed a survey of the general population.

OBJECTIVE

We evaluated, on the scale of a city's population, the literacy level about SARS-CoV-2 transmission, barrier gesture respect, and isolation acceptability or possibility in case of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

METHODS

We used the validated CovQuest-CC questionnaire. Data were analyzed and correlated with volunteer characteristics and their SARS-CoV-2 screening results using multivariate analysis.

RESULTS

In total, 4707 participants completed the CovQuest-CC questionnaire. Multivariate analysis revealed that female sex was a determinant of a higher score of knowledge about SARS-CoV-2 transmission (adjusted β coefficient=0.14, 95% CI 0.04-0.23; corrected P=.02). Older ages of 50-59 years (adjusted β coefficient=0.25, 95% CI 0.19-0.31; corrected P<.001) and ≥60 years (adjusted β coefficient=0.25, 95% CI 0.15-0.34; corrected P<.001) were determinants of a higher score on barrier gesture respect compared to ages 20-49 years considered as reference. Female sex was also a determinant of a higher score on barrier gesture respect (adjusted β coefficient=0.10, 95% CI 0.02-4.63; corrected P<.001). The knowledge score was correlated with the score on barrier gesture respect measures (adjusted β coefficient=0.03, 95% CI 0.001-0.004; corrected P=.001). Older ages of 50-59 years (adjusted β coefficient=0.21, 95% CI 0.13-0.29; corrected P<.001) and ≥60 years (adjusted β coefficient=0.25, 95% CI 0.1-0.38; corrected P<.001) were determinants of a higher score on isolation acceptability or possibility compared to the age of 20-49 years considered as reference. Finally, the knowledge score regarding SARS-CoV-2 transmission was significantly associated with a lower risk of RT-PCR (reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction) positivity (adjusted odds ratio 0.80, 95% CI 0.69-0.94; corrected P<.03), implying that a 1-point increase in the knowledge score lowers the risk of positivity by 20% on average.

CONCLUSIONS

This study identified factors associated with health literacy regarding SARS-CoV-2 infection in asymptomatic individuals in a large French city's population. We can confirm that in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the determinants of better health literacy are not the same as those in other contexts. It seems critical to obtain a more detailed understanding of the determinants of individual citizens' behavior, as part of a strategy to combat the large-scale spread of the virus. The harsh experience of this pandemic should teach us how to nurture research to structure customized interventions to encourage the adoption of ad hoc behaviors to engage citizens in adapting behaviors more favorable to their health.

Spread of awareness of COVID-19 between December 2019 and March 2020 in France

During the early phase of outbreaks, awareness of the presence of the disease plays an important role in transmission dynamics. To investigate the processes of how people become aware of a disease, we conducted two complementary investigations. First, we surveyed 868 academic researchers in France, on the time and circumstances when they became aware of COVID-19 as an important event. We found that 25% did so before February 18th (first death in France), 50% did so before March 10th (first presidential allocution) and 75% did so before March 16th (announcement of the lockdown). Awareness came from nine categories of circumstances: (1) decisions taken by the government (elicited by 35.7% participants); (2) information from media or social media (24.7%); (3) conversation with friends (22.4%); (4) observed changes in their personal lives (14.0%); (5) decisions taken by the employer (9.2%); (6) observed changes at work (9.9%); (7) suspected case of COVID-19 in their entourage (3.1%); (8) fear for oneself or their entourage (2.8%) and (9) self-appraisal of scientific reports (2.8%). Second, we appraised three general media in France (a television news show, a radio news show, and a newspaper) and showed that COVID-19 became a preeminent topic only after March 1st 2020 when the epidemic is present on national soil. Our results show that multiple intricated factors prompt the awareness of an emerging infectious disease. Awareness is not solely driven by general media as they begin to focus on the topic late.

Health Beliefs, Protective Behaviors, and Information-Seeking

BACKGROUND

The outbreak of COVID-19 caused severe damage to public health globally and served as a stark reminder of the potential for future pandemics. Promoting protective behaviors to prevent the spread of any contagious disease thus remains a priority. Although research has shown that health beliefs can affect protective behaviors, few studies have examined the role of information-seeking in this relationship.

OBJECTIVES

On the basis of the health belief model, this research focused on whether health beliefs affect personal protective behaviors through health information-seeking behaviors.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study with a causal-comparative design used an online questionnaire to investigate the Taiwanese public's health beliefs, protective behaviors, and information-seeking behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis.

RESULTS

Between September 2021 and January 2022, 322 valid questionnaires were collected. The results revealed that the effects of two health beliefs-self-efficacy and perceived benefits-on handwashing, social distancing, practicing good cough etiquette, and keeping one's environment clean and well ventilated were partially mediated by the frequency of official information-seeking.

DISCUSSION

Results of this study support the regular and timely promotion of pandemic prevention measures through official sites. Promoting official information-seeking can help enhance protective behaviors.

Absence of short-term changes in knowledge and attitudes among household contacts of COVID-19 cases during the post-acute phase of the pandemic in Catalonia and Navarre, Spain

Objectives

To evaluate short-term changes in knowledge and attitude towards COVID-19 and preventive measures during the post-acute phase of the pandemic in Spain.

Methods

A survey was performed in Catalonia and Navarre between May-2022 and July-2023 in household contacts of COVID-19 cases. Knowledge and attitude were assessed at baseline and at three months, using a Likert scale. Responses were grouped according to correct or incorrect.

Results

At baseline, 172 subjects were contacted, 118 (69%) of which completed a follow-up interview three months later. Knowledge of correct hand-washing and mask protocols had maintained over time (-1.7%, p = 0.553 and - 2.5%, p = 0.473, respectively). Attitudes toward preventive measures was adequate in the first interview (86%), but attitudes regarding use of face masks decreased significantly (-9.1%, p = 0.048) over time in participants with higher risk of severe COVID-19. However, most short-term changes in knowledge and attitudes were not statistically significant.

Conclusion

Household contacts showed correct knowledge and attitude towards COVID-19 and its preventive measures, without significant changes in the short term despite a relaxation of government-mandated preventive measures. These results provide relevant information in case of a new health emergency due to respiratory viruses.

Communication to promote and support physical distancing for COVID-19 prevention and control

BACKGROUND

This review is an update of a rapid review undertaken in 2020 to identify relevant, feasible and effective communication approaches to promote acceptance, uptake and adherence to physical distancing measures for COVID-19 prevention and control. The rapid review was published when little was known about transmission, treatment or future vaccination, and when physical distancing measures (isolation, quarantine, contact tracing, crowd avoidance, work and school measures) were the cornerstone of public health responses globally. This updated review includes more recent evidence to extend what we know about effective pandemic public health communication. This includes considerations of changes needed over time to maintain responsiveness to pandemic transmission waves, the (in)equities and variable needs of groups within communities due to the pandemic, and highlights again the critical role of effective communication as integral to the public health response.

OBJECTIVES

To update the evidence on the question 'What are relevant, feasible and effective communication approaches to promote acceptance, uptake and adherence to physical distancing measures for COVID-19 prevention and control?', our primary focus was communication approaches to promote and support acceptance, uptake and adherence to physical distancing.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE

to explore and identify key elements of effective communication for physical distancing measures for different (diverse) populations and groups.

SEARCH METHODS

We searched MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane Library databases from inception, with searches for this update including the period 1 January 2020 to 18 August 2021. Systematic review and study repositories and grey literature sources were searched in August 2021 and guidelines identified for the eCOVID19 Recommendations Map were screened (November 2021).

SELECTION CRITERIA

Guidelines or reviews focusing on communication (information, education, reminders, facilitating decision-making, skills acquisition, supporting behaviour change, support, involvement in decision-making) related to physical distancing measures for prevention and/or control of COVID-19 or selected other diseases (sudden acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), influenza, Ebola virus disease (EVD) or tuberculosis (TB)) were included. New evidence was added to guidelines, reviews and primary studies included in the 2020 review.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Methods were based on the original rapid review, using methods developed by McMaster University and informed by Cochrane rapid review guidance. Screening, data extraction, quality assessment and synthesis were conducted by one author and checked by a second author. Synthesis of results was conducted using modified framework analysis, with themes from the original review used as an initial framework.

MAIN RESULTS

This review update includes 68 studies, with 17 guidelines and 20 reviews added to the original 31 studies. Synthesis identified six major themes, which can be used to inform policy and decision-making related to planning and implementing communication about a public health emergency and measures to protect the community. Theme 1: Strengthening public trust and countering misinformation: essential foundations for effective public health communication Recognising the key role of public trust is essential. Working to build and maintain trust over time underpins the success of public health communications and, therefore, the effectiveness of public health prevention measures. Theme 2: Two-way communication: involving communities to improve the dissemination, accessibility and acceptability of information Two-way communication (engagement) with the public is needed over the course of a public health emergency: at first, recognition of a health threat (despite uncertainties), and regularly as public health measures are introduced or adjusted. Engagement needs to be embedded at all stages of the response and inform tailoring of communications and implementation of public health measures over time. Theme 3: Development of and preparation for public communication: target audience, equity and tailoring Communication and information must be tailored to reach all groups within populations, and explicitly consider existing inequities and the needs of disadvantaged groups, including those who are underserved, vulnerable, from diverse cultural or language groups, or who have lower educational attainment. Awareness that implementing public health measures may magnify existing or emerging inequities is also needed in response planning, enactment and adjustment over time. Theme 4: Public communication features: content, timing and duration, delivery Public communication needs to be based on clear, consistent, actionable and timely (up-to-date) information about preventive measures, including the benefits (whether for individual, social groupings or wider society), harms (likewise) and rationale for use, and include information about supports available to help follow recommended measures. Communication needs to occur through multiple channels and/or formats to build public trust and reach more of the community. Theme 5: Supporting behaviour change at individual and population levels Supporting implementation of public health measures with practical supports and services (e.g. essential supplies, financial support) is critical. Information about available supports must be widely disseminated and well understood. Supports and communication related to them require flexibility and tailoring to explicitly consider community needs, including those of vulnerable groups. Proactively monitoring and countering stigma related to preventive measures (e.g. quarantine) is also necessary to support adherence. Theme 6: Fostering and sustaining receptiveness and responsiveness to public health communication Efforts to foster and sustain public receptiveness and responsiveness to public health communication are needed throughout a public health emergency. Trust, acceptance and behaviours change over time, and communication needs to be adaptive and responsive to these changing needs. Ongoing community engagement efforts should inform communication and public health response measures.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

Implications for practice Evidence highlights the critical role of communication throughout a public health emergency. Like any intervention, communication can be done well or poorly, but the consequences of poor communication during a pandemic may mean the difference between life and death. The approaches to effective communication identified in this review can be used by policymakers and decision-makers, working closely with communication teams, to plan, implement and adjust public communications over the course of a public health emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic. Implications for research Despite massive growth in research during the COVID-19 period, gaps in the evidence persist and require high-quality, meaningful research. This includes investigating the experiences of people at heightened COVID-19 risk, and identifying barriers to implementing public communication and protective health measures particular to lower- and middle-income countries, and how to overcome these.

Understanding the Factors Affecting Travel Avoidance behavior During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings From a Mixed Method Approach

Pandemics are affecting tourism in many ways, and have had a major effect on international travel, the hospitality industry and tourism demand. Grounded in the protective action decision model and complexity theory, this study seeks to develop a model to explain the conditions that have led to travel avoidance in the UK in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. To test our proposed model, we used a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis of data gathered from 1,290 travelers, with semi-structured interviews conducted to confirm the configurations identified by the model. The findings indicate that effective pandemic information, effective risk communication, supplies, trust in government and trust in the media are necessary to combat travel avoidance, but the refutation of rumor and trust among traveler is not necessary to foster travel avoidance. Furthermore, qualitative follow-up interviews were conducted to obtain deeper insights into the discovered configurations and develop effective pathways to travel avoidance.

Psychometric properties of pandemic awareness scale for students aged 8-12: The case of COVID-19

It is very important to show awareness in order to reduce the health risks posed by pandemics. In Turkey, primary and secondary schools, which were kept closed until September 2021 due to COVID-19, were reopened and students were expected to show awareness to avoid contamination. Therefore, it became even more important to reveal the awareness level of these students. In this study, it was aimed to develop a tool that could measure the awareness of the pandemic in general, and the awareness of COVID-19 in particular, of 8-12 year-old students. For this purpose, the data of the study were obtained during the period when primary and secondary schools in Turkey started face-to-face education (15 September 2021-15 October 2021). The data of the study were gathered from 466 primary (3rd and 4th grades) and secondary school (5th, 6th and 7th grades) students studying in different cities (13 cities) of Turkey, districts and villages of these city centers. The data were randomly divided into two equal data sets. Parallel and exploratory factor analysis were performed with the first data set. As a result of analysis, a single factor model with 12-item was obtained that explained approximately 44% of the variances. This model was tested with confirmatory factor analysis using the second data set. As a result of the tests, it was found that the model fitted well (RMSEA = 0.073, SRMR = 0.050, CFI = 0.93, TLI = 0.91 and GFI = 0.93) and a tool Pandemic Awareness Scale (PAS) was reached. In addition, it was seen that the scale showed measurement invariance in terms of gender, and partial measurement invariance according to school type. It was found that the reliability of the scores obtained from the scale was high. With this scale, COVID-19 awareness of students aged 8-12 could be measured, as well as the awareness of the same age group in pandemics with similar characteristics.

A case study of using natural language processing to extract consumer insights from tweets in American cities for public health crises

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic was a "wake up" call for public health agencies. Often, these agencies are ill-prepared to communicate with target audiences clearly and effectively for community-level activations and safety operations. The obstacle is a lack of data-driven approaches to obtaining insights from local community stakeholders. Thus, this study suggests a focus on listening at local levels given the abundance of geo-marked data and presents a methodological solution to extracting consumer insights from unstructured text data for health communication.

METHODS

This study demonstrates how to combine human and Natural Language Processing (NLP) machine analyses to reliably extract meaningful consumer insights from tweets about COVID and the vaccine. This case study employed Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling, Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) emotion analysis, and human textual analysis and examined 180,128 tweets scraped by Twitter Application Programming Interface's (API) keyword function from January 2020 to June 2021. The samples came from four medium-sized American cities with larger populations of people of color.

RESULTS

The NLP method discovered four topic trends: "COVID Vaccines," "Politics," "Mitigation Measures," and "Community/Local Issues," and emotion changes over time. The human textual analysis profiled the discussions in the selected four markets to add some depth to our understanding of the uniqueness of the different challenges experienced.

CONCLUSIONS

This study ultimately demonstrates that our method used here could efficiently reduce a large amount of community feedback (e.g., tweets, social media data) by NLP and ensure contextualization and richness with human interpretation. Recommendations on communicating vaccination are offered based on the findings: (1) the strategic objective should be empowering the public; (2) the message should have local relevance; and, (3) communication needs to be timely.

Study of optimal vaccination strategies for early COVID-19 pandemic using an age-structured mathematical model: A case study of the USA

In this paper we study different vaccination strategies that could have been implemented for the early COVID-19 pandemic. We use a demographic epidemiological mathematical model based on differential equations in order to investigate the efficacy of a variety of vaccination strategies under limited vaccine supply. We use the number of deaths as the metric to measure the efficacy of each of these strategies. Finding the optimal strategy for the vaccination programs is a complex problem due to the large number of variables that affect the outcomes. The constructed mathematical model takes into account demographic risk factors such as age, comorbidity status and social contacts of the population. We perform simulations to assess the performance of more than three million vaccination strategies which vary depending on the vaccine priority of each group. This study focuses on the scenario corresponding to the early vaccination period in the USA, but can be extended to other countries. The results of this study show the importance of designing an optimal vaccination strategy in order to save human lives. The problem is extremely complex due to the large amount of factors, high dimensionality and nonlinearities. We found that for low/moderate transmission rates the optimal strategy prioritizes high transmission groups, but for high transmission rates, the optimal strategy focuses on groups with high CFRs. The results provide valuable information for the design of optimal vaccination programs. Moreover, the results help to design scientific vaccination guidelines for future pandemics.

The effect of fear and situational motivation on online information avoidance: The case of COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a plethora of online sources for information and news dissemination have emerged. Extant research suggests that very quickly, individuals become disinterested and begin avoiding the information. In this study, we investigate how an individual's fear and situational motivation impact Online Information Avoidance. Using the self-determination theory and information avoidance theories, we argue that fear and external regulation are associated with increased Online Information Avoidance. We also argue that intrinsic motivation and identified regulation are associated with a decrease in Online Information Avoidance. Our findings suggest that fear, intrinsic motivation, and external regulation drive Online Information Avoidance, where intrinsic motivation is the most significant driver. We also found that identified regulation is a crucial inhibitor of Online Information Avoidance. While focusing on COVID-19, our study contributes to the broader information systems research literature and specifically to the information avoidance literature during a pandemic or a prolonged crisis. Our study's findings will be useful for governments, health organizations, and communities that utilize online platforms, forums, and related outlets to reach larger audiences for disseminating pertinent information and recommendations during a crisis.

Awareness of mpox-related knowledge among men who have sex with men in China

BACKGROUND

With the rapid spread of the mpox epidemic, cases have emerged in multiple countries, mainly among men who have sex with men. Because of the connectedness of today's world, countries have to be prepared to face risks in advance. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate awareness of mpox-related knowledge among men who have sex with men in China.

METHODS

With the assistance of the social organizations of men who have sex with men, a cross-sectional survey of men who have sex with men in China was conducted through an online questionnaire between July 1 and July 18, 2022. A nationwide sample of Chinese men who have sex with men (N = 3,257) was recruited.

RESULTS

Only 36.9% of participants had mpox-related knowledge. Awareness of mpox-related knowledge among respondents was positively associated with those in older age groups (33 to 42 years and 51 years or older) (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.31; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.03-1.67, AOR = 1.61; 95% CI: 1.16-2.24; respectively), married (AOR = 1.55; 95% CI: 1.09-2.19), and those with a graduate degree or above (AOR = 2.14; 95% CI: 1.11-4.13), while negatively associated with those living in the western parts of China (AOR = 0.74; 95% CI: 0.60-0.92), and those who were unsure of their history of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) status (AOR = 0.44; 95% CI: 0.30-0.63).

CONCLUSION

Mpox-related knowledge is fairly low among men who have sex with men in China. China needs to spread knowledge to the public through multiple channels, especially in key populations (men who have sex with men, HIV-infected, etc.), and take preventive measures to effectively avoid outbreaks of mpox.

How did consumers’ self-protective behavior formed during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Introduction

This study explored the formation mechanism of consumers’ self-protective behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is very important for policy settings to regulate consumer behavior. Based on the basic framework of the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM), this study analyzed the formation mechanism of consumers’ self-protective willingness from the perspective of risk information, and explained the deviation between consumers’ self-protective willingness and behavior from the perspective of protective behavior attributes.

Methods

Based on 1,265 consumer survey data during the COVID-19 pandemic, the empirical test was carried out.

Results and Discussion

The amount of risk information has a significant positive impact on the consumers’ self-protective willingness, where the credibility of risk information plays a positive moderating role between them. Risk perception plays a positive mediating role between the amount of risk information and the consumers’ self-protective willingness, and the positive mediating effect of risk perception is negatively moderated by the credibility of risk information. In the protective behavior attributes, hazard-related attributes play a positive moderating role between the consumers’ self-protective willingness and behavior, while resource-related attributes play the opposite role. Consumers pay more attention to hazard-related attributes than resource-related attributes, and they are willing to consume more resources to reduce risk.

Changes in travel behaviors and intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery period: A case study of China

The COVID-19 pandemic severely hit the tourism industry in China and worldwide. Chinese government adopted extensive nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to control it. COVID-19 has been well under control since April 2020 and China entered into a unique recovering period. The aim of this study is to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic changed residents' travel behaviors and intentions and investigate the theoretical factors associated with these changes during the pandemic and the recovery period. This study used a mixed-methods approach by combining quantitative surveys (N = 1,423) and qualitative interviews (N = 34). We extended the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to include other emerging factors in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as risk perception, tourist trust, and charitable attitude. Our findings show that COVID-19 changed respondents' travel preferences in different ways, for example, tend to choose natural/outdoor/uncrowded attractions over cultural/indoor/crowded attractions. Second, respondents' domestic travel behaviors and intentions were positively associated with constructs in TPB, charitable attitude to contribute to the recovery of the tourism industry, tourists' trust in domestic COVID-19 control, and awareness of destinations' promotion strategies, while domestic travel intentions were negatively associated with risk perception. Third, concerns about the international COVID-19 control and travel restrictions were the two major factors affecting residents' intentions to travel abroad. Finally, we highlighted the management implications including implementing strict preventive measures while improving the effectiveness, increasing tourists’ trust, and adopting diverse marketing and promotion strategies.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice towards COVID-19 among Patients Attending Phuentsholing Hospital, Bhutan: A Cross-Sectional Study

Bhutan is one of the few countries in the world to take unprecedented steps to control the spread of COVID-19 in the country. This study aimed to investigate knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) and their associated covariates among patients attending Phuentsholing Hospital, Bhutan. Therefore, a cross-sectional study was conducted among patients attending Phuentsholing Hospital in Bhutan between March 17 and April 9, 2021, using an interview-administered questionnaire. The multivariable logistic regression was used to identify statistically significant covariates of good KAP. Further, the association between levels of KAP scores was assessed using Pearson's correlation coefficient. Of the 441 participants, 54.6% (241) were female. Knowledge, attitude, and practice score were reported by 55.3%, 51.8%, and 83.7% of participants, respectively. Higher education, secondary education, monastic education, and non-formal education were 9 [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 9.23; 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.438, 24.797], 3.5 (AOR = 3.5; 95% CI 1.425, 8.619), and 4 (AOR = 3.8; 95% CI 1.199, 12.141) times more likely to report good knowledge than illiterates. A positive attitude was associated with higher (AOR = 2.97; 95% CI 1.154, 7.66) and secondary (AOR = 3.53; 95% CI 1.454, 8.55) education compared to illiteracy. The good practice was associated with higher (AOR = 12.31; 95% CI 2.952, 51.318) and secondary (AOR = 11.5; 95% CI 3.439, 38.476) education compared to illiteracy. Participants in the age groups 26-35 years (AOR = 0.11; 95% CI 0.026, 0.484) and >45 years (AOR = 0.12; 95% CI 0.026, 0.588) were less likely to exhibit good practice compared to those aged 18-25 years. Those working in the private or business sectors were 9 (AOR = 8.81; 95% CI 1.165, 41.455) times more likely to have good practice compared to civil servants. There was a weak but positive correlation between knowledge-attitude (r = 0.228), knowledge-practice (r = 0.220), and attitude-practice scores (r = 0.338). The need for health education on COVID-19 to increase knowledge and attitude is highly recommended, and should be focused on the less educated and other vulnerable groups such as farmers and students, as well as those older than 25 years.

Digital and physical factors influencing an individual's preventive behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan: A perspective based on the S-O-R model

COVID-19 has caused considerable stress to individuals and communities. Daily press briefings on public health during the COVID-19 pandemic have increased individuals' feelings of social pressure. Abrupt changes to a person's immediate environment, such as the changes caused by COVID-19, can substantially affect their mental health and cognitive adjustment. On the basis of the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework, we examined the effects of digital and physical stimuli related to COVID-19 in Taiwan on individuals' psychological states and preventive behavior, including social distancing and personal hygiene. The data obtained from 498 valid survey questionnaires indicated that digital and physical factors including informativeness, social pressure, and severity exerted direct effects on cognitive assimilation and anxiety, which in turn affected individuals' preventive behavior. Moreover, cognitive assimilation and anxiety had significant mediating effects on the relationships of informativeness, social pressure, and severity with individuals' preventive behavior. The results of this study indicate how digital and physical stimulus factors affect cognitive assimilation and anxiety, which influence preventive behavior during a pandemic.

Digital information channels during the COVID-19 global health emergency through a situational awareness lens: a study of Pakistani citizens

Purpose

The main aim of this study was to know the role of digital information and communication channels in developing citizens’ understanding regarding COVID-19 with reference to situation awareness. Furthermore, the impact of gender, age, qualification and area of respondents on citizens' perception and comprehension of COVID-19 was also investigated.

Design/methodology/approach

This quantitative study used an online survey and received 377 usable responses. The instrument was developed with the help of literature, and it was based on two constructs (perception of the element and comprehension of the current situation) of the situational awareness (SA) model. Data were collected from Pakistani citizens through a convenient sampling technique.

Findings

It was observed that the majority of citizens used electronic media, Facebook and WhatsApp for accessing COVID-19-related information. World Health Organization website played an important role in developing citizens’ understanding. Alert messages through mobile phone and apps played role in developing citizen’s understanding regarding COVID-19 situation. They perceived that media was effective in providing social distancing techniques. Moreover, they believed that government campaigns were helpful. Findings revealed that there was no significant impact of gender, age, qualification and area on citizens' perceptions and comprehension of COVID-19 through media.

Originality/value

This study is helpful for authorities in decision-making regarding COVID-19 and also filled the literature gap as, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no comprehensive study has been conducted regarding the SA of COVID-19.

Community Safety Behavior in Response to Coronavirus Pandemic

The purpose of this study is to explore the behavior and lifestyle of individuals in response to the coronavirus that the safety behavior of people in the coronavirus disease of 2019 pandemic. Hence, the study integrates the theory of planned behavior and the health belief model to understand the behavioral change in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The current study is qualitative therefore, a survey-based online questionnaire was used for data collection from university students and staff (faculty and nonfaculty) residing in top-tier cities of Pakistan, nonprobability convenient sampling was used to approach the audience. A two-stage approach was used to test the model using partial least square (variance-based structural equation modeling). The reliability and validity of the measurement model indicate that the data is reliable and valid. Outcomes prove all the relationships as proposed by the study, except for the impact of perceived barriers on intention and individual safety behavior. Perceived barriers act as obstacles that abstain individuals from following the standard operating procedures. The research agenda provides new insights into the fields of marketing, health care, consumer behavior, and behavioral studies. It contributes to the existing literature in the field of social marketing by studying the behavior and changes in the behavior of people in the global pandemic.

Irish Media Coverage of COVID-19 Evidence-Based Research Reports From One National Agency

BACKGROUND

How research findings are presented through domestic news can influence behaviour and risk perceptions, particularly during emergencies such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Monitoring media communications to track misinformation and find information gaps is an important component of emergency risk communication. Therefore, this study investigated the traditional media coverage of nine selected COVID-19 evidence-based research reports and associated press releases (PRs) published during the initial phases of the pandemic (April to July 2020) by one national agency.

METHODS

NVivo was used for summative content analysis. 'Key messages' from each research report were proposed and 488 broadcast, print, and online media sources were coded at the phrase level. Manifest content was coded and counted to locate patterns in the data (what and how many) while latent content was analysed to further investigate these patterns (why and how). This included the coding of the presence of political and public health actors in coverage.

RESULTS

Coverage largely did not misrepresent the results of the reports, however, selective reporting and the variability in the use of quotes from governmental and public health stakeholders changed and contextualised results in different manners than perhaps originally intended in the PR. Reports received varying levels of media attention. Coverage focused on more 'human-interest' stories (eg, spread of COVID-19 by children and excess mortality) as opposed to more technical reports (eg, focusing on viral load, antibodies, testing, etc).

CONCLUSION

Our findings provide a case-study of European media coverage of evidence reports produced by a national agency. Results highlighted several strengths and weaknesses of current communication efforts.

Challenges and Opportunities for Global Genomic Surveillance Strategies in the COVID-19 Era

Global SARS-CoV-2 genomic surveillance efforts have provided critical data on the ongoing evolution of the virus to inform best practices in clinical care and public health throughout the pandemic. Impactful genomic surveillance strategies generally follow a multi-disciplinary pipeline involving clinical sample collection, viral genotyping, metadata linkage, data reporting, and public health responses. Unfortunately, current limitations in each of these steps have compromised the overall effectiveness of these strategies. Biases from convenience-based sampling methods can obfuscate the true distribution of circulating variants. The lack of standardization in genotyping strategies and bioinformatic expertise can create bottlenecks in data processing and complicate interpretation. Limitations and inconsistencies in clinical and demographic data collection and sharing can slow the compilation and limit the utility of comprehensive datasets. This likewise can complicate data reporting, restricting the availability of timely data. Finally, gaps and delays in the implementation of genomic surveillance data in the public health sphere can prevent officials from formulating effective mitigation strategies to prevent outbreaks. In this review, we outline current SARS-CoV-2 global genomic surveillance methods and assess roadblocks at each step of the pipeline to identify potential solutions. Evaluating the current obstacles that impede effective surveillance can improve both global coordination efforts and pandemic preparedness for future outbreaks.

Predictors of COVID-19 vaccination intention among Iranian population: applying the theory of planned behavior

Background

The present study was conducted to assess the determinants of the intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccination among the Iranian population.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, 1,056 individuals of the general population living in Hamadan County were studied from April to June 2021. Using a proportional stratified sampling method, subjects were selected from those covered by 34 comprehensive health service centers and health bases. Then, the subjects were selected by simple random sampling. Data were collected by sending a questionnaire link to eligible individuals, who completed it online. The questionnaire determined demographic data and constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior.

Results

1,056 subjects answered the study; women accounted for 57.9% of the respondents. According to the findings, the majority of respondents (79.5%) reported that they would strongly agree and agree to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Older age, male gender, occupation, underlying chronic disease, death of relatives and friends due to COVID-19, and history of influenza vaccinations were significantly related to the intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19 (P>0.05). Also, the intention was associated with increased scores in the attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control.

Conclusion

Despite doubt about the details of the intention to receive COVID-19 vaccination, most subjects reported intending to be vaccinated against COVID-19, but the real rate of vaccination may be lower. Vaccination intention reflects overall vaccination attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control.

How to Promote Public Engagement and Enhance Sentiment Through Government Social Media During the COVID-19 Crisis

In the period of public health crisis, effective and efficient transmission of crisis information to the public through social media is an important support for achieving social stability and orderly online public engagement. From the perspective of public value management, this study systematically investigated how local government agencies in China used social media to promote public engagement and raise public sentiment during the COVID-19 crisis. Using data captured from the “Wuhan Release” Sina Weibo account, the authors studied the factors that influence public engagement, including information sources, language styles, and media types. Further, it explores the influence of the interactive effects of public value with information sources, language styles, and media types on public engagement and public sentiment. The results show that the consistency of government response content and public value promotes public engagement and raises public sentiment. This research provides enlightenment and ideas for cognition, understanding and governance of public opinion in practice.

Impact of COVID-19 Awareness on Protective Behaviors during the Off-Peak Period: Sex Differences among Chinese Undergraduates

COVID-19 remains an extreme threat in higher education settings, even during the off-peak period. Appropriate protective measures have been suggested to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in a large population context. Undergraduate students represent a highly vulnerable fraction of the population, so their COVID-19 protective behaviors play critical roles in enabling successful pandemic prevention. Hence, this study aims to understand what and how individual factors contribute to undergraduate students' protective behaviors. After building multigroup structural equation models using data acquired from the survey taken by 991 undergraduates at a large research university in eastern China, I found that students' COVID-19 awareness was positively associated with their protective behaviors, such as wearing a mask, using hand sanitizer, and maintaining proper social distance, but not with getting vaccinated. In addition, I found students with higher COVID-19 awareness were more likely to have more COVID-19 knowledge than those with less awareness. Furthermore, sex differences were observed in the mediation effects of COVID-19 awareness on wearing a mask and getting vaccinated, via COVID-19 knowledge, respectively. The results of this study have implications in helping higher education stakeholders enact effective measures to prevent the spread of the pandemic.

Leveraging machine learning to analyze sentiment from COVID-19 tweets: A global perspective

Since the advent of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, analyzing public sentiment has become one of the major concerns for policy and decision-makers. While the priority is to curb the spread of the virus, mass population (user) sentiment analysis is equally important. Though sentiment analysis using different state-of-the-art technologies has been focused on during the COVID-19 pandemic, the reasons behind the variations in public sentiment are yet to be explored. Moreover, how user sentiment varies due to the COVID-19 pandemic from a cross-country perspective has been less focused on. Therefore, the objectives of this study are: to identify the most effective machine learning (ML) technique for classifying public sentiments, to analyze the variations of public sentiment across the globe, and to find the critical contributing factors to sentiment variations. To attain the objectives, 12,000 tweets, 3000 each from the USA, UK, and Bangladesh, were rigorously annotated by three independent reviewers. Based on the labeled tweets, four different boosting ML models, namely, CatBoost, gradient boost, AdaBoost, and XGBoost, are investigated. Next, the top performed ML model predicted sentiment of 300,000 data (100,000 from each country). The public perceptions have been analyzed based on the labeled data. As an outcome, the CatBoost model showed the highest (85.8%) F1-score, followed by gradient boost (84.3%), AdaBoost (78.9%), and XGBoost (83.1%). Second, it was revealed that during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, the sentiments of the people of the three countries mainly were negative, followed by positive and neutral. Finally, this study identified a few critical concerns that impact primarily varying public sentiment around the globe: lockdown, quarantine, hospital, mask, vaccine, and the like.

Lockdown support, trust and COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: Insights from the second national lockdown in France

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, restrictive sanitary measures such as lockdowns have been implemented all around the world. Based on a representative sample of the population collected through an online cross-sectional survey, the goal of the study was to investigate the factors associated with lockdown agreement in France during the second general lockdown of fall 2020. More specifically, we aimed to investigate how trust in the government and COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs influenced lockdown agreement. Trust in the authorities and low adherence to conspiracy beliefs appeared as strong predictors of lockdown acceptance among our sample. Using a mediation analysis, we highlighted a significant indirect effect of trust in the authorities on lockdown agreement through the adherence to conspiracy beliefs: low level of trust translated into higher odds to believe in COVID-19 misinformation which in turn decreased lockdown support. The double effect of trust on lockdown agreement, both directly and indirectly, underlines the importance of careful communication from the government around decisions related to COVID-19 mitigation measures in order not to deteriorate even more the low level of trust in the health action of the government. The fight against false information also appears of the utmost importance to increase the population adherence to public authorities’ recommendations.

Implementation and evaluation of the school's COVID-19 prevention website

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the Perceptions of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) questionnaire and the Information System Success Questionnaire on students when using the school's COVID-19 epidemic prevention website. The study is aimed toward analyzing both questionnaires as well as evaluating an epidemic prevention website.

Design/methodology/approach

The school's COVID-19 prevention website and two questionnaires (Perceptions of COVID-19 and the Information System Success Questionnaire) are examined in order to investigate 73 students' COVID-19 perceptions. An open-ended question was used as the qualitative data to support quantitative data and evaluate a university's COVID-19 epidemic prevention website from a southern university in Taiwan.

Findings

The findings indicated that most students evaluated the school's COVID-19 website positively and were satisfied. In the open-ended questions, the majority of students rated the quality of the system positively and the need to fix some defects. Students have different COVID-19 perceptions and social distance compliance based on their current situations.

Practical implications

This study provides researchers and website developers a broader understanding of the construction of the school's COVID-19 prevention website and a better understanding of student's COVID-19 perceptions.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study examining a school's epidemic prevention website, which is measured by the Information Success Questionnaire and the Perceptions of COVID-19 Questionnaire for college students.

Enhancing Warning, Situational Awareness, Assessment and Education in Managing Emergency: Case Study of COVID-19

The volume of network and Internet traffic is increasing extraordinarily fast daily, creating huge data. With this volume, variety, speed, and precision of data, it is hard to collect crisis information in such a massive data environment. This paper proposes a hybrid of deep convolutional neural network (CNN)-long short-term memory (LSTM)-based model to efficiently retrieve crisis information. Deep CNN is used to extract significant characteristics from multiple sources. LSTM is used to maintain long-term dependencies in extracted characteristics while preventing overfitting on recurring connections. This method has been compared to previous approaches to the performance of a publicly available dataset to demonstrate its highly satisfactory performance. This new approach allows integrating artificial intelligence technologies, deep learning and social media in managing crisis model. It is based on an extension of our previous approach namely long short-term memory-based disaster management and education: this experience forms a background for this model. It combines representation training with situational awareness and education, while retrieving template information by combining various search results from multiple sources. We have extended it to improve our managing disaster model and evaluate it in the case of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) while achieving promising results.

Differences in comprehending and acting on pandemic health risk information: a qualitative study using mental models

Background

A worldwide pandemic of a new and unknown virus is characterised by scientific uncertainty. However, despite this uncertainty, health authorities must still communicate complex health risk information to the public. The mental models approach to risk communication describes how people perceive and make decisions about complex risks, with the aim of identifying decision-relevant information that can be incorporated into risk communication interventions. This study explored how people use mental models to make sense of scientific information and apply it to their lives and behaviour in the context of COVID-19.

Methods

This qualitative study enrolled 15 male and female participants of different ages, with different levels of education and occupational backgrounds and from different geographical regions of Norway. The participants were interviewed individually, and the interview data were subjected to thematic analysis. The interview data were compared to a expert model of COVID-19 health risk communication based on online information from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. Materials in the interview data not represented by expert model codes were coded inductively. The participants’ perceptions of and behaviours related to health risk information were analysed across three themes: virus transmission, risk mitigation and consequences of COVID-19.

Results

The results indicate that people placed different meanings on the medical and scientific words used by experts to explain the pandemic (e.g., virus transmission and the reproduction number). While some people wanted to understand why certain behaviour and activities were considered high risk, others preferred simple, clear messages explaining what to do and how to protect themselves. Similarly, information about health consequences produced panic in some interviewees and awareness in others.

Conclusion

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to public health risk communication. Empowering people with decision-relevant information necessitates targeted and balanced risk communication.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-022-13853-y.

Assessing the influence of COVID-19 protocol on online health information seeking intention of athletes in India

Purpose

The Internet is used as a tool to seek health information by individuals. Mental health concerns are the high prevalence of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and preventive steps are required to curb the illness. Therefore, to gain more insight into health concerns, it is now a common practice to seek health information on the Internet. This study propose an integrated theoretical model to explore the relationship between COVID-19 protocols and perceived online trust with online health information seeking intention (OHISI) and a moderating effect of perceived severity and perceived urgency.

Design/methodology/approach

Data are collected from 325 athletes in the category of individual and team sports through an online survey in a Likert-scale questionnaire. The analysis is performed with a quantitative methodology.

Findings

The study reveals the bright side of online health information (OHI), which brings athletes together and has played out with virtual happy hours, meetings and events. The bright side of OHI reflects social, cultural, technological and economic benefits. An OHI chatbot offers bright personalised side information to the individual seeker, which is more convenient and efficient than human capabilities.

Originality/value

The pivotal contribution is the integrated theoretical framework that is derived from multidisciplinary literature to capture the complexity of OHI. Also, it conceptualises the constructs in the context of OHI and COVID-19.

Wear or Not to Wear a Mask? Recommendation Inconsistency, Government Trust and the Adoption of Protection Behaviors in Cross-Lagged TPB Models

This study examined how exposure to government health advisories on face mask-wearing and trust in government influenced people's compliance with the advisory overtime. We conducted a three-wave panel survey (N = 1,024; T1 in February, T2 in March, T3 in April 2020) in Singapore, where the government initially enforced wearing a face mask conditional on feeling sick, and then later revised its advisory to make mask-wearing mandatory regardless of sickness. Exposure to the initial advisory at T1 had cross-lagged effects on forming positive expectancy, normative, and self-efficacy beliefs on conditional face mask-wearing at T2. Government trust at T1 also had a cross-lagged effect on increasing supportive perceived norm for conditional mask-wearing, while reducing positive expectancy of nonconditional mask-wearing at T2. Exposure to the revised advisory and government trust at T3 were positively associated with outcome expectancy, perceived norm, and self-efficacy regardless of behavior type. Regarding nonconditional mask-wearing, the autoregressive links from T2 to T3 were insignificant for perceived norm and self-efficacy and even negatively significant for intention and behavior. This study offers theoretical and practical insights by documenting the complex and dynamic processes involved in health decision-making during a novel disease pandemic.

Factors associated with the acceptability of government measures to address COVID-19 in Senegal

INTRODUCTION

Three months after the first appearance of the new coronavirus (COVID-19), Senegal recorded its first case on March 2, 2020. Faced with this pandemic, the State reacted quickly with public measures : instituting a curfew, placing a ban on travel between regions, and closing shops and places of worship. This research aims to study the acceptability of these non-pharmaceutical measures by the Senegalese population.

METHOD

This study was a cross-sectional and analytical survey conducted in June and July 2020 among Senegalese over 18 years old. Sampling by the representative quota method was distributed proportionally to age, gender and region. We constructed the questionnaire using the theoretical framework of acceptability of health interventions. Through a telephone call center synchronised to an internet server, we collected data on personal characteristics, knowledge of the disease, trust in information sources, trust in government, concern about the pandemic, and the seven dimensions of acceptability. We performed descriptive analysis and structural equation with R software version 4.0.2.

RESULTS

This study included a total of 813 individuals. The average age was 34.7 years ( ± 14.2 years). They were predominantly male (54.6 %), with no education (42.6 %). The increased level of knowledge of the disease was associated with confidence in national media information sources provided by the administrative and health authorities (β=0.11, p<0.01). The increase in the level of trust in the government in response to COVID-19 was positively related to the acceptability of curfew (β=0.16, p<0.001), travel ban between regions (β=0.11, p<0.001), and closure of places of worship (β=0.1, p<0.01) and markets (β=0.09, p<0.01).

CONCLUSION

In Senegal, the acceptability of the measures depended on knowledge of the disease, perception of the risk of the disease, and trust in the government. There is a need to strengthen awareness and risk communication of COVID-19.

Study on awareness of COVID-19 and compliance with social distancing during COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia

Public compliance with social distancing policy is necessary to slow down the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). One of the factors that contribute to compliance with social distancing policy is awareness of COVID-19. This study aimed to examine the relationship between awareness of COVID-19 and compliance with social distancing policy. The study used an online survey through Google Form to 404 respondents aged 18-63 years. The data were collected by using awareness on the COVID-19 scale and compliance with the social distancing scale. The data were analyzed using the Spearman correlation and Kruskal-Wallis, followed by Mann-Whitney U with Bonferroni correction. The awareness of COVID-19 was significantly and positively associated with compliance with social distancing order. Based on demographic variables found that the awareness was significantly higher in postgraduates. The awareness of COVID-19 was also significantly higher in working participants. The compliance with social distancing order was found higher in women. The study's primary result is that the awareness of COVID-19 positively correlates with public compliance on social distancing order. In particular, there is a need to provide means and interventions to raise public awareness of this challenging situation.

The Effect of Socio-Demographic Factors in Health-Seeking Behaviors among Bangladeshi Residents during the First Wave of COVID-19

Background: Socio-demographic variability among nations and cultures highly influences health-seeking behavior (HSB) in managing endemic or pandemic diseases. The present study aimed to investigate the influence of socio-demographic factors on HSB among Bangladeshi residents during the first wave of COVID-19. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was performed with Bangladeshi residents (60% male and 40% female; age range: 10−60 years or above) from May to July 2020. Information was collected from the participants who resided in slum areas or did not have internet access through face-to-face surveys, maintaining spatial distancing and proper preventive measures. A self-reported and structured questionnaire, including socio-demographic and HSB, was undertaken, and the data was analyzed using a convenience sampling method. Finally, among the 947 participants, 20 were selected using a stratified random sampling technique for in-depth-interview (IDI). The linear regression analysis was performed to determine the influence of socio-demographic factors on HSB. Results: Only about 4.2% of respondents did not wear masks, but nearly half of the participants (46.6%) did not use hand gloves. The mean score of HSB was 9.98 (SD = 2.01) out of 16, with a correct overall rate of 62.4%. As per regression analysis, higher HSBs were found among participants who reported older age (>50 years) (9.96 ± 2.45), educated unemployed students (10.1 ± 1.95), higher education (10.5 ± 1.76), and higher-income (10.4 ± 1.59); in contrast, participants living in slum areas (8.18 ± 2.34) and whose source of income was business (8.46 ± 2.04) exhibited lower HSBs. Females, compared to men, showed better HSB in every aspect, apart from online food ordering. Qualitative data showed that the younger generation is more aware because of their access to information and persuaded the older generations to follow health-seeking protocols. The results also showed that some lower-income slum-dwellers have access to information and healthcare through their employers. IDIs also found cultural, religious, and mental-health affect people’s adherence to health-seeking guidelines and regulations. Conclusions: The findings suggest that socio-demographic factors significantly influenced HSBs during COVID-19 in the Bangladeshi population. Authorities can use these observations to systematically manage future endemics or pandemics.

Mathematical Modeling to Study Optimal Allocation of Vaccines against COVID-19 Using an Age-Structured Population

Vaccination against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) started in early December of 2020 in the USA. The efficacy of the vaccines vary depending on the SARS-CoV-2 variant. Some countries have been able to deploy strong vaccination programs, and large proportions of their populations have been fully vaccinated. In other countries, low proportions of their populations have been vaccinated, due to different factors. For instance, countries such as Afghanistan, Cameroon, Ghana, Haiti and Syria have less than 10% of their populations fully vaccinated at this time. Implementing an optimal vaccination program is a very complex process due to a variety of variables that affect the programs. Besides, science, policy and ethics are all involved in the determination of the main objectives of the vaccination program. We present two nonlinear mathematical models that allow us to gain insight into the optimal vaccination strategy under different situations, taking into account the case fatality rate and age-structure of the population. We study scenarios with different availabilities and efficacies of the vaccines. The results of this study show that for most scenarios, the optimal allocation of vaccines is to first give the doses to people in the 55+ age group. However, in some situations the optimal strategy is to first allocate vaccines to the 15–54 age group. This situation occurs whenever the SARS-CoV-2 transmission rate is relatively high and the people in the 55+ age group have a transmission rate 50% or less that of those in the 15–54 age group. This study and similar ones can provide scientific recommendations for countries where the proportion of vaccinated individuals is relatively small or for future pandemics.

The perceived threat of COVID-19 and its impact on hygienic precautionary behaviors: A multi-countries study

OBJECTIVE(S)

To explore the perceived threats of COVID-19 and how it changed the personal hygienic precautionary behaviors across multiple countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional descriptive design was used to survey the four targeted MENA countries: Jordan, Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.

SAMPLE

A nonprobability convenience sampling design was utilized. The link to the survey questionnaire was distributed through social media groups within Facebook^® and Twitter^® . The groups are known and accessible by known across the general population at the targeted countries.

MEASUREMENT

Data was collected using The Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire and an adapted instrument that examine the hygienic precautionary behaviors during COVID-19 pandemic.

RESULTS

Answers of participants (n = 2604) were valid and included in the study. The results show that a minimal perception of threat among the participants on most of the BIP-Q5 items (M = 12.9, SD = 7.2). Moreover, the highest compliance rates to recommended hygienic precautionary behaviors were found among populations above the age of 50 years (F = 2.89, p = .04), females (t = 5.18, p = .003), being married (F = 3.09, p = .029), and being a health care professional (t = -2.20, p = .028).

CONCLUSION

The perceived threat of COVID-19 and compliance rates with the recommended hygienic precautionary behaviors among Arab societies were found to below and need critically urgent attention.

Keep your distance: Different roles for knowledge and affect in predicting social distancing behavior

The current study examines predictors of social distancing behavior across populations (students and community members) and across time in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on two factors commonly associated with risk perception and prevention: knowledge and affect. Results showed that, despite similar levels of social distancing, student distancing was predicted only by feelings of threat about COVID-19, whereas community distancing was predicted by both feeling informed and threatened. Examining longitudinal effects, which were limited to students only, students became more informed about COVID-19 over time, and increases in being informed (but not feeling threatened) predicted more distancing.

Factors influencing physical distancing compliance among young adults during COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia: A photovoice mixed methods study

The spreading of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is growing out of control in Indonesia since the first two confirmed cases were announced in March 2020. Physical distancing measures are key to slowing down COVID-19 transmission. This study investigated factors associated with physical distancing compliance among young adults in the Jakarta Metropolitan Area, Indonesia. A convergent photovoice mixed methods design was used. Quantitatively, using data from 330 young adults in Jakarta Metropolitan Area, Indonesia, physical distancing compliance scores and its associated factors were analyzed with hierarchical linear regression. Responses from 18 young adults in online focus group discussions and 29 young adults in photovoice were analyzed with thematic analysis. Then, the findings were integrated using joint displays. The mean compliance score of young adults was 23.2 out of 27.0. The physical distancing compliance score was higher among those who worked or studied from home (β = 0.14, p <0.05), compared with those who resumed work at an office or study at school. Celebrating religious days (β = -0.15, p <0.05) and having hometown in the Jakarta Metropolitan Area (β = -0.12, p <0.05) were negatively associated with higher physical distancing compliance scores. Joint displays expanded the reasons for workplace policy, awareness, and social pressure as facilitators and barriers to compliance. Young adults' physical distancing compliance scores were high, but they are at risk of not complying due to religious events and changes in workplace policies. Beyond individual efforts, external factors, such as workplace policies and social pressure, play a major role to influence their physical distancing compliance.

Agent-based modeling and life cycle dynamics of COVID-19-related online collective actions

The outbreak of COVID-19 has greatly threatened global public health and produced social problems, which includes relative online collective actions. Based on the life cycle law, focusing on the life cycle process of COVID-19 online collective actions, we carried out both macro-level analysis (big data mining) and micro-level behaviors (Agent-Based Modeling) on pandemic-related online collective actions. We collected 138 related online events with macro-level big data characteristics, and used Agent-Based Modeling to capture micro-level individual behaviors of netizens. We set two kinds of movable agents, Hots (events) and Netizens (individuals), which behave smartly and autonomously. Based on multiple simulations and parametric traversal, we obtained the optimal parameter solution. Under the optimal solutions, we repeated simulations by ten times, and took the mean values as robust outcomes. Simulation outcomes well match the real big data of life cycle trends, and validity and robustness can be achieved. According to multiple criteria (spans, peaks, ratios, and distributions), the fitness between simulations and real big data has been substantially supported. Therefore, our Agent-Based Modeling well grasps the micro-level mechanisms of real-world individuals (netizens), based on which we can predict individual behaviors of netizens and big data trends of specific online events. Based on our model, it is feasible to model, calculate, and even predict evolutionary dynamics and life cycles trends of online collective actions. It facilitates public administrations and social governance.

A modified UTAUT model for the acceptance and use of digital technology for tackling COVID-19

COVID-19 pandemic expedites the development of digital technologies to tackle the spread of the virus. Several digital interventions have been deployed to reduce the catastrophic impact of the pandemic and observe preventive measures. However, the adoption and utilization of these technologies by the affected populace has been a daunting task. Therefore, this study carried out exploratory investigation of the factors influencing the behavioural intention (BI) of people to accept COVID-19 digital tackling technologies (CDTT) using the UTAUT (Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology) framework. The study applied principal components analysis and multiple regression analysis for hypotheses testing. The study revealed that performance expectancy (PE), facilitating conditions (FC) and social influence (SI) are the best predictors of people's BI to accept CDTT. Also, organizational

influence and benefit (OIB) and government expectancy and benefits (GEB) influence the people's BI. However, variables such as age, gender and voluntariness to use CDTT have no significance to influence BI because the CDTT is still nascent and not easily accessible. The results show that the decision-makers and regulators should consider inciting variables such as PE, FC, SI, OIB and GEB, that motivate the acceptance and use of CDTT. Furthermore, the populace must be sensitized to the availability and use of CDTT in all communities. Also, the path diagram and hypothesis testing results for CDTT acceptance and use, will help government and private organizations in planning and responding to the digitalization of COVID-19 protective measures and hence revise the COVID-19 health protection regulation.

Sentiment Analysis of Comments of American Birders during Two Waves of the COVID-19 Pandemic Reveal More Negative Sentiments in the Context of Birding

Human-nature relationships are an important aspect of leisure research. Previous studies also reported that nature-related activities have a health benefit. In this study, we surveyed US-American birdwatchers at two time points during the COVID pandemic (independent samples). During the beginning of the COVID pandemic in spring 2020, we analyzed their comments with an AI sentiment analysis. Approximately one year later (winter 2020/21), during the second wave, the study was repeated, and a second data set was analyzed. Here we show that during the ongoing pandemic, the sentiments became more negative. This is an important result because it shows that despite the positive impact of nature on mental health, the sentiments become more negative in the enduring pandemic.

Rapid discovery of optimal messages for behavioral intervention: the case of Hungary and Covid-19

The right messaging plays an important role in the fight against the spread of COVID-19. The present study aims at uncovering the way people think about governmental measures against COVID-19. Two hundred and sixteen Hungarians participated in this on-line study. A conjoint-based experimental design was used to reveal the power of messages as drivers of voluntary social distancing based on the perceived risk of COVID-19, the ways to practice social distancing and to assure it, and preferences regarding the communicator of the social distancing policy. Results revealed three major mindsets: Pandemic observers, Order-followers, and Health-conscious. Members of each mindset respond differently to messages. To enhance compliance with social distancing and contain the virus, we suggest using the prediction tool we developed to identify the belonging of people or groups in the population to mindsets in the sample and address people using effective mindset-tailored messaging.

Impact of the awareness and fear of COVID-19 on menstrual symptoms in women: a cross-sectional study

The researchers' aim was to determine the impact of the awareness and fear of COVID-19 on menstrual symptoms. We conducted the cross-sectional study with 125 women and collected using the Visual Analog Scale, the Menstruation Symptom Scale, the Awareness of COVID-19 Scale and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale. While 39% of the women reported that there was no change in the menstrual pattern during the pandemic process, 22.4% reported an increase in menstrual pain and 25.6% reported deterioration in the menstrual pattern. A one-unit increase in the women's fear of COVID-19 scale score increases the Menstrual Symptom Scale total score by 1016 points (p < .001). However, the awareness of COVID-19 had no impact on menstrual symptoms. As fear of COVID-19 increases menstrual symptoms, when providing nursing care, nurses should be aware that women need more support to cope with this condition.

The Impact of Information Sources on COVID-19-Related Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) among University Students: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study

COVID-19 is an emerging respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus accompanied by a tsunami of misinformation and fake news. This can weaken the public health responses by affecting the COVID-19-related knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of the public. Therefore, this cross-sectional study was designed during the early stage of the pandemic to evaluate the KAP of Palestinian university students and their commonly used information sources. We found that the most trusted information source among students was the World Health Organization (WHO), followed by the Palestinian Ministry of Health (MoH) briefings and healthcare workers, whereas social media was the most frequently used source of information. The participants exhibited a high level of COVID-19-related knowledge, having an average score of 8.65 (range: 0–10). In total, 76% avoided going to crowded places, and only 33% wore a mask while being outdoors. The vast majority (93%) checked the accuracy of COVID-19-related information before publishing it, 56% used the WHO and MoH briefings for fact-checking, and only 8% relied on healthcare workers. This was particularly the case for those who lived in refugee camps. This study provides an insight into the information sources used by Palestinian university students, the sources they trust, and the information formats they prefer. These results may help public health authorities to locate the information sources through which university students should be targeted. Efforts should be made to recommend healthcare workers as credible information sources. In this way, they will be able to prevent the spread of misleading information and provide high-quality information, especially within unconventional settings such as refugee camps.

Sustained Effects of Government Response on the COVID-19 Infection Rate in China: A Multiple Mediation Analysis

Many scholars have considered the relationship between the government response to COVID-19, an important social intervention strategy, and the COVID-19 infection rate. However, few have examined the sustained impact of an early government response on the COVID-19 infection rate. The current paper fills this gap by investigating a national survey performed in February 2020 and infection data from Chinese cities surveyed 1.5 years after the outbreak of COVID-19. The results suggest that the Chinese government's early response to COVID-19 significantly and sustainedly reduced China's COVID-19 infection rate, and that this impact worked through risk perception, the adoption of protective action recommendations (PARs), and the chain-mediating effects of risk perception and the adoption of PARs, respectively. These findings have important practical value. In demonstrating how government response and infection rate at the macro level are connected to the behaviour of individuals at the micro level, they suggest feasible directions for curbing the spread of diseases such as COVID-19. When facing such public health emergencies, the focus should be on increasing the public's risk perception and adoption of PARs.

Improving compliance with physical distancing across religious cultures in Israel

BACKGROUND

Physical distancing contains the corona virus, but compliance with physical distancing across religious minorities in Israel has been shown to be relatively poorer than in the majority population. This study tests the power of messages as drivers of willingness to comply with physical distancing across religious minorities in Israel during the first wave of the COVID-19 from March till June 2020.

METHODS

896 Israeli Muslims, Druze, Bedouins, Jewish Orthodox, Christians, and Jewish Seculars participated in this conjoint-based experimental design. The size of the total sample and of the subgroups is consistent with the suggested size in conjoint analysis studies, particularly when aiming at stability of coefficients rather than stability of means. The dependent variable was 'willingness to comply'. Independent variables were known contributors to compliance: perceived risk, practices of physical distancing, ways to assure compliance, and the agent communicating the policy.

RESULTS

A regression analysis indicated minor differences in the power of messages across groups despite dramatic cultural differences amongst them. We identified three distinct mindsets that transcend religious cultures from the responses of the study subjects to various messages and named them "pandemic observers," "obedient followers," and "sensitive interpreters." Compliance of "Pandemic Observers" (n = 306) may be improved by messages such as, "Dangerous virus spreading wildly" and "Health experts suggest what to do but the government is reactive rather than proactive" (β = 14, p < .005). Compliance of "Obedient Followers" (n = 242) may be driven by the messages "Socialize and work only from home, using the internet, e.g. zoom/Skype" and "Everyone should stay 2 m. (6 ft.) apart" (β = 16, p < .0050). Compliance of "Sensitive Interpreters" (n = 249) may be improved by messages such as, "Only people who are 60 and over are to be allowed to buy groceries during first 2 h from opening" and by using the media to publicize the official health policy (β = 8; p < .005).

CONCLUSIONS

Mindset-assignment reflects how people think rather than their religious affiliation. A personal viewpoint identifier was developed to predict mindset-assignment and enable health authorities to enhance compliance through mindset-tailored messages for members of each mindset segment. We recommend that health authorities and policy makers consider these different personality types, which range across religious minorities and emphasize the messages that each type responds to in developing and implementing a communication plan to improve physical distancing as an important public health measure.

Situational Awareness: Forecasting Successful Military Medical Teams

INTRODUCTION

Military healthcare providers working in military interprofessional healthcare teams (MIHTs) require situational awareness (SA) to ensure safe and efficacious patient care. This study aimed to explore SA in MIHTs to understand how SA can be reinforced and maintained in MIHTs. The research team set out to answer two questions: "What aspects of individual and team SA are particularly important for MIHTs?" and "How can we enable military healthcare providers to be effective MIHTs members with robust SA?".

METHODS

This study used Grounded Theory methodology collecting perspectives from 30 study participants from various backgrounds, including 11 different healthcare professions from the U.S. Army, Air Force, and Navy. Each study participant had experiences participating in, leading one, or leading many MIHTs. Data were collected in three cycles and analyzed within each cycle until saturation was reached.

RESULTS

Five themes were robustly represented in the data set regarding SA: (1) contextually informed adaptability, (2) readiness, (3) trust, (4) communication, and (5) mission focus.

CONCLUSIONS

The urgency often faced by MIHTs brings SA and the principles that underpin SA into sharper focus. The SA themes identified in this research may provide insight into training effectiveness, team strengths and weaknesses, and team performance.

The aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic period: barriers in implementation of social distancing at workplace

Purpose

The study aims to investigate the barriers in implementing social distancing at the workplace as an aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Design/methodology/approach

Study design consists of a review of literature, data collection and analysis. It encompasses identification, verification and analysis of the relationships among the barriers. Data have been collected from a panel of experts on matrix-type questionnaires from workplaces. Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) augmented with “Matrice d' Impacts Croise's Multiplication Appliquée a UN Classement (Cross Impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification)” (MICMAC) for structural analysis.

Findings

The literature has identified twenty major barriers to implementing social distancing at the workplace. The research findings reveal/show that the barrier “matter of disrespect” occupies the bottom level in the ISM model. Therefore, it is the most critical barrier; whereas, employees with disabilities and “herding culture” are crucial as they occupy the next lowest level, therefore, are crucial. Moreover, there are ten barriers positioned in the middle of the model having moderate-severe effects, and seven falls on the top level of the model having relatively less severe effects. Results of MICMAC affirm and avow the results of ISM.

Research limitations/implications

The study will have profound theoretical and practical implications for stakeholders since it provides lot of new useful and valuable information, gives relational insights and determines priorities subject to usual limitations of survey research.

Originality/value

It is an original attempt to make some sense of practicability of social distancing for stakeholders including policymakers, frontline health workers and public at large.