scholarly journals The Impact of the Online COVID-19 Infodemic on French Red Cross Actors’ Field Engagement and Protective Behaviors: Mixed Methods Study

10.2196/27472 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. e27472
Author(s):  
Leonardo W Heyerdahl ◽  
Benedetta Lana ◽  
Tamara Giles-Vernick
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Hybrid Approach ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Protective Behaviors ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
French Red Cross ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Tuning Out

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has been widely described as an infodemic, an excess of rapidly circulating information in social and traditional media in which some information may be erroneous, contradictory, or inaccurate. One key theme cutting across many infodemic analyses is that it stymies users’ capacities to identify appropriate information and guidelines, encourages them to take inappropriate or even harmful actions, and should be managed through multiple transdisciplinary approaches. Yet, investigations demonstrating how the COVID-19 information ecosystem influences complex public decision making and behavior offline are relatively few. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate whether information reported through the social media channel Twitter, linked articles and websites, and selected traditional media affected the risk perception, engagement in field activities, and protective behaviors of French Red Cross (FRC) volunteers and health workers in the Paris region of France from June to October 2020. Methods We used a hybrid approach that blended online and offline data. We tracked daily Twitter discussions and selected traditional media in France for 7 months, qualitatively evaluating COVID-19 claims and debates about nonpharmaceutical protective measures. We conducted 24 semistructured interviews with FRC workers and volunteers. Results Social and traditional media debates about viral risks and nonpharmaceutical interventions fanned anxieties among FRC volunteers and workers. Decisions to continue conducting FRC field activities and daily protective practices were also influenced by other factors unrelated to the infodemic: familial and social obligations, gender expectations, financial pressures, FRC rules and communications, state regulations, and relationships with coworkers. Some respondents developed strategies for “tuning out” social and traditional media. Conclusions This study suggests that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the information ecosystem may be just one among multiple influences on one group’s offline perceptions and behavior. Measures to address users who have disengaged from online sources of health information and who rely on social relationships to obtain information are needed. Tuning out can potentially lead to less informed decision making, leading to worse health outcomes.

Impact of the online COVID-19 infodemic on French Red Cross actors’ field engagement and protective behaviors: A hybrid social listening study (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo W Heyerdahl ◽  
Benedetta Lana ◽  
Tamara Giles-Vernick
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Protective Behaviors ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Protection Measures ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
French Red Cross ◽  
And Behavior

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has been widely described as an “infodemic”, an excess of information alimented by social and traditional media. In identifying problematic narratives and measuring their online spread, one key thematic cutting across many such analyses is that it is a threat to be managed through effective emergency risk communication. It nevertheless remains challenging to identify precisely how social media debates affect complex public decision-making and behavior offline. OBJECTIVE This study investigated whether information reported through the widely-used social media channel Twitter, linked articles and websites, and selected traditional media affected the risk perception, engagement in field activities, and protective behaviors of French Red Cross volunteers and health workers in the Paris region of France during the COVID-19 epidemic. METHODS We tracked daily Twitter discussions and selected traditional media in France for seven months, identifying COVID-19 claims and debates about viral origins, non-pharmaceutical protection measures, and potential treatments and vaccines. We conducted 24 semi-structured interviews with workers and volunteers. RESULTS Media and social media debates about viral risks, epidemiological measures, non-pharmaceutical interventions, potential treatments and vaccines did fan anxieties among FRC volunteers and workers. Nevertheless, decisions to continue conducting FRC field activities and daily protection practices conjugated with other proximate factors. In addition, some respondents developed strategies for “tuning out” the influence of social and traditional medias. CONCLUSIONS This study, employing two distinct datasets, suggests complex interactions between an online COVID-19 infodemic and offline perceptions and behavior. Respondents in semi-structured interviews expressed anxieties about the sheer quantities of information they received, contradictory and at times deliberately provocative or speculative. Their decisions to participate in FRC field activities and daily protective measures, however, were guided not only by the infodemic, but by several other factors. Further investigation and better theorization of how social and occupational groups interpret and act on contradictory information is needed. CLINICALTRIAL Not applicable

scholarly journals Evaluating the motivation of Red Cross Health volunteers in the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed-methods study protocol

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. e042579
Author(s):  
Leonardo W Heyerdahl ◽  
Muriel Vray ◽  
Vincent Leger ◽  
Lénaig Le Fouler ◽  
Julien Antouly ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Vulnerable Populations ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Mixed Methods Study ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Volunteer Motivation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
French Red Cross

IntroductionVoluntary organisations provide essential support to vulnerable populations and front-line health responders to the COVID-19 pandemic. The French Red Cross (FRC) is prominent among organisations offering health and support services in the current crisis. Comprised primarily of lay volunteers and some trained health workers, FRC volunteers in the Paris (France) region have faced challenges in adapting to pandemic conditions, working with sick and vulnerable populations, managing limited resources and coping with high demand for their services. Existing studies of volunteers focus on individual, social and organisational determinants of motivation, but attend less to contextual ones. Public health incertitude about the COVID-19 pandemic is an important feature of this pandemic. Whether and how uncertainty interacts with volunteer understandings and experiences of their work and organisational relations to contribute to Red Cross worker motivation is the focus of this investigation.Methods and analysisThis mixed-methods study will investigate volunteer motivation using ethnographic methods and social network listening. Semi-structured interviews and observations will illuminate FRC volunteer work relations, experiences and concerns during the pandemic. A questionnaire targeting a sample of Paris region volunteers will allow quantification of motivation. These findings will iteratively shape and be influenced by a social media (Twitter) analysis of biomedical and public health uncertainties and debates around COVID-19. These tweets provide insight into a French lay public’s interpretations of these debates. We evaluate whether and how socio-political conditions and discourses concerning COVID-19 interact with volunteer experiences, working conditions and organisational relations to influence volunteer motivation. Data collection began on 15 June 2020 and will continue until 15 April 2021.Ethics and disseminationThe protocol has received ethical approval from the Institut Pasteur Institutional Review Board (no 2020-03). We will disseminate findings through peer-reviewed articles, conference presentations and recommendations to the FRC.

Review of Key Stakeholders for an mHealth Pilot Study in Malawi Motivations and Expectations

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne O'Connor ◽  
Ciara Heavin ◽  
John O'Donoghue
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Pilot Studies ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Post Trial ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Potential Use

The trial and evaluation of mobile health (mHealth) applications in society is necessary to explore the potential use and benefits of the solution post-trial. In recent years, there is a proliferation of mHealth projects developed and tested in the continent of Africa. The complexity of these projects means that there are typically many stakeholders who are integral to the success of the project. Yet, extant research falls short of capturing the motivations and expectations of multiple key stakeholders (i.e. direct and indirect users) in a single study towards participating in mHealth pilots. To address this gap in research a conceptual model is proposed and examined to explore the impact of motivations and expectations on both community health workers' (direct users) and caregivers' (indirect users) decision to participate in mHealth pilot studies. Findings reveal that both motivations and expectations positively impact decision making, i.e. their decision to participate in the study, with no significant differences emerging between these two groups of stakeholders.

scholarly journals Evaluation of a Cognitive Tool for Enhanced Decision Making and Personal Change among College Students

2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Crystal Mata Kreitler ◽  
Donald F. Dansereau ◽  
Timothy M. Barth ◽  
Gregory T. Repasky ◽  
James Miller
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Treatment Group ◽  
Behavior Change ◽  
Cognitive Tool ◽  
Personal Change ◽  
Writing Group ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Spatial Display

Many college students have difficulty with decision making and personal change. In this study, we examine the impact of a fill-in-the-node spatial display that college students complete while considering alternatives and action plans related to dilemmas and behavior change. College students who utilized the cognitive tool reported greater positive expectations for future decision making and personal change than did those in a problem-based writing group and a no treatment group. Implications for academic advisors are discussed.

scholarly journals Animal Spirits in the Beautiful Game. Testing social pressure in professional football during the COVID-19 lockdown

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Cueva
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Natural Experiment ◽  
Social Pressure ◽  
Professional Football ◽  
Large Dataset ◽  
Animal Spirits ◽  
Almost All ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic forced almost all professional football matches worlwide to be played in empty stadiums. This large-scale natural experiment offers a unique opportunity to assess the impact of social pressure on decision making and behavior. In particular, I investigate the effect of the home crowd on match outcomes and referee decisions. Using a large dataset from 41 professional football leagues in 30 different countries, I find that the home advantage in match outcomes drops by around one half and that referee bias against away teams completely disappears following the lockdowns. My results therefore suggest that social pressure exerted by home crowds has an important effect on the behavior of referees and on game outcomes.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS IN REINFORCEMENT PROMOTING HUMANITARIAN WORK (CORONA PANDEMIC AS A MODEL)

2021 ◽  
Vol 03 (03) ◽  
pp. 258-269
Author(s):  
Souad Salem ABU SAAD
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Governmental Agencies ◽  
Humanitarian Action ◽  
Humanitarian Mission ◽  
Mental Health Support ◽  
Emerging Virus ◽  
The Impact

Research on this topic aims to identify the impact of the spread of the Corona pandemic (COVID-19) this deadly epidemic, and its reflection on the reality and future of humanity, and the extent of the committee's contribution The International Red Cross in preventing the spread of this emerging virus, and knowing the role it plays in Alleviate the woes afflicting millions and the psychological problems the pandemic has left on Members of the humanitarian community, by defining their role in promoting humanitarian action, and through what It was suggested that the committee's privacy and legal status distinguish it from governmental and non-governmental agencies Governmental Affairs, through its focus on the main mission it adopts, which is to work on “Enforcement international humanitarian law faithfully. Several conclusions were reached, including: The committee does not differentiate in its work between individuals Detained in the context of internal disturbances and tensions, and perform its humanitarian mission without discrimination of Order to serve all those who are unable to defend themselves, and that the Corona pandemic (COVID-19) has created unprecedented levels of needs in mental health support and support Psychosocial among victims of the virus, their families, health workers and others.

scholarly journals Perilaku Memilih Tenaga Penolong Persalinan pada Ibu Melahirkan di Desa Blambangan, Kecamatan Penengahan, Kabupaten Lampung Selatan, Indonesia

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-174
Author(s):  
Nurhayati Nurhayati ◽  
Mugeni Sugiharto
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Education Level ◽  
Labor And Delivery ◽  
Enabling Factors ◽  
Maternal Deaths ◽  
Reinforcing Factors ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
The Impact

Maternal deaths is still high in Indonesia. Nowadays, there are still many Indonesian women helped by non-health workers in labor and delivery. To get insight about mothers’ decision making in choosing the helper in labor and delivery and the factors that hamper and support it. Methods: This is a qualitative study using in-depth interview to mothers who ever had delivered a baby, the husbands, the health workers (midwifes), and shamans who help in labor and delivery. This study was done in Blambangan Village, South Lampung in the year 2008. The data was processed by grouping, making categories and chronologies, and conducting content analysis. Most of the mothers chose the shaman as the helper in labor and delivery. The factors that influence the decision were the education level; the type of job; the impact of the midwifes, shamans, transportation, mother’s health status, the complication level of the labor and delivery, and the impact of the husbands. There were three factors that influence the mothers’ decision making in choosing the helper in labor and delivery: 1) the predisposing factors, such as education level and type of job; 2) the reinforcing factors, such as the availability of the helper in labor and delivery and transportation; 3) the enabling factors such as the previous helper in labor and delivery, the role of the husbands, midwifes, and the shamans who help in labor and delivery. Suggestions: Labor and delivery counseling through midwifes, and constructing partnership between midwifes and shamans who help in labor and delivery are very important. Keywords: labor and delivery, mother, shamans who help labor and delivery, midwifes Abstrak Angka Kematian Ibu (AKI) karena kehamilan dan persalinan masih cukup tinggi di Indonesia. Saat ini masih banyak persalinan wanita Indonesia ditolong oleh tenaga non kesehatan. Tujuan penelitian ini untuk memperoleh informasi yang mendalam tentang keputusan ibu yang pernah melahirkan dalam memilih tenaga penolong persalinan dan faktor yang menghambat dan menunjang dengan pengambilan keputusan tersebut. Metode yang digunakan merupakan penelitian kualitatif melalui wawancara mendalam kepada ibu yang pernah melahirkan, suami ibu yang pernah melahirkan, petugas kesehatan (bidan), dan dukun bayi. Penelitian ini dilakukan di desa Blambangan, Lampung Selatan pada tahun 2008. Pengolahan data dilakukan dengan cara mengelompokkan, membuat kategori dan kronologisnya, serta melakukan analisis isi. Hasilnya diketahui sebagian besar ibu memilih dukun bayi sebagai tenaga penolong persalinannya. Faktor yang mempengaruhi ibu memilih tenaga penolong persalinan adalah tingkat pendidikan, jenis pekerjaan, pengaruh bidan, dukun, transportasi, masalah kesehatan ibu, faktor kesulitan persalinan, dan pengaruh suami. Kesimpulan yang diperoleh dari peneliti ini terdapat 3 faktor yang mempengaruhi ibu memilih penolong persalinan yaitu 1) faktor pemicu seperti tingkat pendidikan dan jenis pekerjaan; 2) faktor pemungkin seperti ketersediaan penolong persalinan, dan transportasi;3) faktor penguat seperti penolong persalinan sebelumnya, peran suami, bidan dan dukun bayi. Saran: Pentingnya penyuluhan persalinan melalui bidan dan membangun kemitraan antara bidan dan dukun yang saling menguntungkan. Kata kunci: Persalinan, Ibu, Dukun bayi, Bidan

scholarly journals An Investigation of the Effect of Retraining Courses on the Knowledge, Attitude and Performance of Health Workers in the Field of Malaria

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1598-1601
Author(s):  
Roghaye Ershad Sarabi ◽  
Rafigh Dehvari Mohammadi ◽  
Aziollah Arbabisarjou
Keyword(s):  
Health Center ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
Knowledge Score ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Face ◽  
Level Of Knowledge ◽  
And Performance ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
The Impact

Background: Malaria is considered one of the most important parasitic diseases in Iran. With regard to malaria, Sistan and Baluchestan province ranks first among the country's provinces. Aim: To investigate the impact of education on malaria knowledge, attitude and behavior among health workers working in Saravan city health center. Methods: The present study is a semi-experimental study of before and after clinical trial type that was performed on 73 health workers in Saravan city. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect the required data. It consisted of two parts: the first part was dedicated to demographic data and the second part was about the knowledge, attitude and performance of health workers regarding malaria. The face and content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by an expert panel. The reliability of the questionnaire was calculated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (α=0.85). Before the start of the training, the questionnaires were given to the health workers. The trainings were presented in 49 one-hour sessions by the experts of the headquarters of Saravan Health Center in Behvarzi Center using lectures and pamphlets. One month after the training, the same questionnaires were filled in by health workers. Results: The results showed that the mean scores of health workers in the areas of knowledge, attitude and performance increased significantly after the workshop (p=0.001) so that the participants' knowledge score increased from 26.06 to 56.7. In terms of attitude, their score increased from 7.2 to 17.7, and in terms of performance, participants' score increased from 13 to 32. Conclusions: The findings revealed that the implementation of educational programs in the field of malaria can increase the level of knowledge, attitude and performance of the community regarding the preventive behaviors of malaria. Therefore, health system officials are recommended to work toward the amelioration of the knowledge, attitude and performance of the health workers. Keywords: knowledge, attitude, performance, health workers, malaria, retrainin

scholarly journals Emanating Effects: The Impact of the Oregon Citizens’ Initiative Review on Voters’ Political Efficacy

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 426-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine R Knobloch ◽  
Michael L Barthel ◽  
John Gastil
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Political Efficacy ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Ballot Measures ◽  
Deliberative Processes ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior ◽  
The Impact

Deliberative processes can alter participants’ attitudes and behavior, but deliberative minipublics connected to macro-level discourse may also influence the attitudes of non-participants. We theorize that changes in political efficacy occur when non-participants become aware of a minipublic and utilize its deliberative outputs in their decision making during an election. Statewide survey data on the 2010 and 2012 Oregon Citizens’ Initiative Reviews tested the link between awareness and use of the Citizens’ Initiative Review Statements and statewide changes in internal and external political efficacy. Results from a longitudinal 2010 panel survey show that awareness of the Citizens’ Initiative Reviews increases respondents’ external efficacy, whereas use of the Citizens’ Initiative Review Statements on ballot measures increases respondents’ internal efficacy. A cross-sectional 2012 survey found the same associations. Moreover, the 2010 survey showed that greater exposure to—and confidence in—deliberative outputs was associated with higher levels of both internal and external efficacy.

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