Insight into the accuracy of COVID-19 beliefs predicts behavior during the pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Fischer ◽  
Nadia Said ◽  
Markus Huff
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Behaviors ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Insight Into

Susceptibility to COVID-19 misinformation--believing false statements to be true--negatively relates to compliance with public health measures. Here, we make the prediction that metacognitive insight into the varying accuracy of own beliefs predicts compliance with recommended health behaviors, above and beyond the accuracy of these beliefs. In a national sample of German citizens, we investigate metacognitive sensitivity, the degree to which confidence differentiates correct from incorrect beliefs. Bayesian and frequentist analyses show that citizens with higher metacognitive sensitivity were more likely to adopt recommended public health measures. Importantly, this benefit of metacognitive introspection into own beliefs held controlling for the accuracy of the beliefs. The present research highlights that insight into the varying accuracy of beliefs, rather than only the beliefs themselves, relate to citizens’ behavior during the pandemic

scholarly journals Policy liberalism and source of news predict pandemic-related health behaviors and trust in the scientific community

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. e0252670
Author(s):  
Madeleine Reinhardt ◽  
Matthew B. Findley ◽  
Renee A. Countryman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Health Behaviors ◽  
News Media ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Health Measures

In March of 2020, the United States was confronted with a major public health crisis caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). This study aimed to identify what factors influence adherence to recently implemented public health measures such as mask-wearing and social distancing, trust of scientific organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) on information pertaining to the pandemic, and level of perceived risk. Data were collected from June 30, 2020 to July 22, 2020 on 951 adult residents of the United States using an online survey through Microsoft Forms. Multiple linear regression was used to identify the strongest predictors for compliance to pandemic-related health measures, trust in the scientific community, and perceived risk. Results showed that the strongest predictor of all variables of interest was degree of policy liberalism. Additionally, participants who consumed more conservative news media conformed less to the pandemic health guidelines and had less trust in the scientific community. Degree of policy liberalism was found to have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between gender and conformity to pandemic-related health behaviors. These findings have concerning implications that factors like degree of policy liberalism and source of news are more influential in predicting adherence to life-saving health measures than established risk factors like pre-existing health conditions.

scholarly journals Recovery Ratios Reliably Anticipate COVID-19 Pandemic Progression

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan V. Nicolau ◽  
Alexander Hasson ◽  
Mona Bafadhel
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Predictive Models ◽  
Recovery Phase ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Epidemiological Models ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
The World ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Pandemic Wave ◽  
Gaining Insight

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic is placing unprecedented demands on healthcare systems worldwide and exacting a massive humanitarian toll. This makes the development of accurate predictive models imperative, not just for understanding the course of the pandemic but more importantly for gaining insight into the efficacy of public health measures and planning accordingly. Epidemiological models are forced to make assumptions about many unknowns and therefore can be unreliable. Here, taking an empirical approach, we report a 20-30 day lag between the peak of confirmed to recovered cases and the peak of daily deaths in each country, independent of the epoch of that country in its pandemic cycle. This analysis is expected to be largely independent of the proportion of the population being tested and therefore should aid in planning around the timing and easing of public health measures. Our data also suggests broad predictions for the number of fatalities, generally somewhat lower than most other models. Finally, our model suggests that the world as a whole is shortly to enter a recovery phase, at least as far as the first pandemic wave is concerned.

scholarly journals Pandemic boredom: Predicting boredom and its consequences during self-isolation and quarantine

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin Corwin Westgate ◽  
Nick Buttrick ◽  
Yijun Lin ◽  
Gaelle El Helou
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Behaviors ◽  
Risk Behaviors ◽  
National Sample ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Longitudinal Effects ◽  
Increase Risk ◽  
Situational Predictors ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Cross National

Does boredom increase risk behaviors in real-world settings, and if so, might it contribute to failure to comply with public health guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic? In a large cross-national sample of 63,336 community respondents from 116 countries, we examined the prevalence of lockdown-related boredom during the initial outbreak of COVID-19, as well as its demographic and situational predictors. Boredom was higher in countries with more COVID-19 cases, more stringent lockdown policies, and lower GDPs, as well as among men and less educated/younger adults. Additionally, we examined whether “pandemic boredom” predicted longitudinal decreases in social distancing behavior (and vice versa; n = 8031). We found little evidence that changes in boredom predict individual public health behaviors (handwashing, staying home, self-quarantining, avoiding crowds) over time, or that such behaviors had any reliable longitudinal effects on boredom itself. In summary, we found little evidence that boredom affects pandemic health behaviors.

scholarly journals Community-Clinical Partnership: Engaging health navigators to support refugees and non-refugee immigrants amidst the COVID-19 pandemic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan A Harris ◽  
Christina D Lupone ◽  
Elizabeth Asiago-Reddy ◽  
Kathryn B Anderson ◽  
Peter Cronkright ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Behaviors ◽  
Vulnerable Populations ◽  
Health Inequities ◽  
Immigrant Communities ◽  
Protective Behaviors ◽  
Rt Pcr ◽  
Medical University ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Refugee Immigrants

Abstract Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated health inequities in vulnerable populations. Linguistic and sociocultural barriers, misinformation, and mistrust of Western medicine hinder public health outreach to diverse refugee and non-refugee immigrant communities. SUNY Upstate Medical University partnered with local resettlement agencies and health navigators to expand outreach and screening to this hard-to-reach population. Methods: Health navigators engaged participants for enrollment and screening. SARS-CoV2 status was assessed via RT-PCR of saliva swabs. Surveys captured COVID-19-related psychosocial behavioral insights.Results: Over 9 weekly sessions, 603 individuals in 195 refugee/immigrant households from 27 countries of origin were screened. COVID-19 positivity rate was 2% for households and 0.2% amongst individuals. Surveys provided insight into households’ concerns and health behaviors, and a space to reinforce protective behaviors and address misinformation and stigma. Conclusions: During these unprecedented times, our interdisciplinary community-clinical partnership successfully implemented COVID-19 screening, outreach, and support to local refugees and non-refugee immigrants through trusted networks of culturally, socially, linguistically congruent health navigators.

Pandemic Disease, Public Health, and Ethics

2019 ◽  
pp. 796-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxwell Smith ◽  
Ross Upshur
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Pandemic Preparedness ◽  
Scarce Resources ◽  
Ethical Frameworks ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
The Face ◽  
Conducting Research

Infectious disease pandemics raise significant and novel ethical challenges to the organization and practice of public health. This chapter provides an overview of the salient ethical issues involved in preparing for and responding to pandemic disease, including those arising from deploying restrictive public health measures to contain and curb the spread of disease (e.g., isolation and quarantine), setting priorities for the allocation of scarce resources, health care workers’ duty to care in the face of heightened risk of infection, conducting research during pandemics, and the global governance of preventing and responding to pandemic disease. It also outlines ethical guidance from prominent ethical frameworks that have been developed to address these ethical issues and concludes by discussing some pressing challenges that must be addressed if ethical reflection is to make a meaningful difference in pandemic preparedness and response.

Communicable and Other Infectious Diseases

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Frischhut
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
European Union ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Ethical Perspective ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Environment Agency ◽  
And Control

This chapter discusses the most important features of EU law on infectious diseases. Communicable diseases not only cross borders, they also often require measures that cross different areas of policy because of different vectors for disease transmission. The relevant EU law cannot be attributed to one sectoral policy only, and thus various EU agencies participate in protecting public health. The key agency is the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Other important agencies include the European Environment Agency; European Food Safety Authority; and the Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency. However, while integration at the EU level has facilitated protection of the public's health, it also has created potential conflicts among the different objectives of the European Union. The internal market promotes the free movement of products, but public health measures can require restrictions of trade. Other conflicts can arise if protective public health measures conflict with individual human rights. The chapter then considers risk assessment and the different tools of risk management used in dealing with the challenges of infectious diseases. It also turns to the external and ethical perspective and the role the European Union takes in global health.

scholarly journals COVID-19 in Southeast Asia: Implications for workers and unions

2021 ◽  
pp. 002218562110000
Author(s):  
Michele Ford ◽  
Kristy Ward
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
First Year ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
The Public ◽  
Market Effects ◽  
Export Orientation ◽  
Health Measures

The labour market effects in Southeast Asia of the COVID-19 pandemic have attracted considerable analysis from both scholars and practitioners. However, much less attention has been paid to the pandemic’s impact on legal protections for workers’ and unions’ rights, or to what might account for divergent outcomes in this respect in economies that share many characteristics, including a strong export orientation in labour-intensive industries and weak industrial relations institutions. Having described the public health measures taken to control the spread of COVID-19 in Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam, this article analyses governments’ employment-related responses and their impact on workers and unions in the first year of the pandemic. Based on this analysis, we conclude that the disruption caused to these countries’ economies, and societies, served to reproduce existing patterns of state–labour relations rather than overturning them.

scholarly journals Emotional and Mental Wellbeing Following COVID-19 Public Health Measures on People Living With Dementia and Carers

2021 ◽  
pp. 089198872199681
Author(s):  
Kerry Hanna ◽  
Clarissa Giebel ◽  
Hilary Tetlow ◽  
Kym Ward ◽  
Justine Shenton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Support ◽  
Support Services ◽  
Mental Wellbeing ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Social Support Services ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

Background: To date, there appears to be no evidence on the longer-term impacts caused by COVID-19 and its related public health restrictions on some of the most vulnerable in our societies. The aim of this research was to explore the change in impact of COVID-19 public health measures on the mental wellbeing of people living with dementia (PLWD) and unpaid carers. Method: Semi-structured, follow-up telephone interviews were conducted with PLWD and unpaid carers between June and July 2020. Participants were asked about their experiences of accessing social support services during the pandemic, and the impact of restrictions on their daily lives. Results: 20 interviews were conducted and thematically analyzed, which produced 3 primary themes concerning emotional responses and impact to mental health and wellbeing during the course of the pandemic: 1) Impact on mental health during lockdown, 2) Changes to mental health following easing of public health, and 3) The long-term effect of public health measures. Conclusions: The findings from this research shed light on the longer-term psychological impacts of the UK Government’s public health measures on PLWD and their carers. The loss of social support services was key in impacting this cohort mentally and emotionally, displaying a need for better psychological support, for both carers and PLWD.

scholarly journals Dutch Public health Foresight study 2018/20

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
H Hilderink
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Expenditures ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Societal Challenges ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
National Prevention ◽  
Business As Usual ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract The four-year Public Health Foresight Study (VTV) provides insight into the most important societal challenges for public health and health care in the Netherlands. The seventh edition of the Dutch Public Health Foresight study was published in 2018, with an update in 2020. In this update a business-as-usual or Trend Scenario was developed using 2018 as a base year. In the trend scenario demographic and epidemiological projections have been used to depict the future trends regarding ageing, health, disease, health behaviors, health expenditures and health inequalities. Next, these trends are used to identify the most important future challenges and opportunities for public health. In the 2020 update, special attentions is given to climate change and the local living environment and their impacts and interaction with public health outcomes. Trends in lifestyle-related lifestyle show both positive (smoking prevalence) and negative (overweight prevalence) future developments. Dementia will be the leading cause of mortality and disease burden in 2040 by far. Health care expenditures will double by 2040, with cancers showing the most rapid growth of all disease groups. The insights of this study are directly used as input for the National Health Policy Memorandum and for the National Prevention Accord.

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