Measuring citizens’ engagement during emergencies: Psychometric validation of the Public Health Engagement Scale for Emergency Settings (PHEs-E)

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of citizens’ behaviors in the containment of the virus. Individuals might change their intention to adhere to public health prescriptions depending on various personal characteristics, including their own emotional status, which has been recognized to be a crucial psychological factor in orienting people’s adherence to public health recommendation during emergency settings. In particular, it is crucial to support citizens’ alliance with authorities and feeling of trust: public engagement is a concept that refers to the general involvement of citizens into public affairs which is generally considered an effective approach to enhance citizens’ understanding of their crucial role in public affairs. However, so far there is no agreement on the metrics and indexes that should be used to measures public engagement during a health crisis. The aim of this paper is to validate a psychometric scale (PHEs-E), which intends to measure the readiness of individuals to adhere to the prescribed behavioral change to contain the emergency. Data were collected throughout the pandemic in Italy: in particular, five independent samples were recruited starting from March 2020 to March 2021. Results showed that the proposed measure has good psychometric characteristics. A general linear model was computed to assess the differences of public engagement across the different data points and among citizens with different sociodemographic characteristics. Correlations with other psychological constructs (i.e. Anxiety, Depression and Self-Efficacy) were also tested, showing that more engaged citizens have a lower level of anxiety and depression, and a higher self-efficacy. This study’s findings indicate that individuals’ characteristics may differentiate citizens’ motivation to engage in public health behavioral recommendation to prevent the COVID-19 contagion. However the scale could be useful to perform a psychological monitoring of psychological readiness to engage in public health strategies to face critical events and settings.

Comparison of Exercise and Physical activity routine and Health Status among Apparently Healthy Nigerian Adults Before and During COVID-19 Lockdown

Background: COVID-19 is a pandemic that ravaged the world in manners that were never seen in the recent past and one of the measures to stem the tide-off this ravaging pandemic is a stay-at-home order referred to as lockdown. This study compares the physical activity status and perceived health of Nigerians before and during the lockdown. ResultsSocial media platform users (n = 205) were surveyed using a two-part questionnaire. The 1st part elicited the socio-demographic characteristics of the subject. In the 2nd part, information about their exercise and physical activity, general health, and economic palliatives as offered by the government, non-governmental organizations, and philanthropists were elicited. The frequency of exercise was significantly more (p < 0.05) during the lockdown than before the lockdown. The duration and intensity of the exercise per week were comparable. There was also a negative relationship between the Body Mass Index, frequency, and duration of exercise before and during the lockdown. The subjects also perceived their health as worse during (3.70 ± 1.05) the lockdown than before (3.95 ± 0.97) lockdown (Z = -3.69, p = 0.00). Conclusion: Overall, for these cohorts of social media platform users, lockdown did not adversely affect their exercise routine. It is recommended that there should be specific admonition on exercise as an important Instrumental Activity of Daily Living (IADL). Therefore, while this pandemic lockdown lasts and beyond, the safety measures to follow while partaking in this IADL, should be included in the public health recommendation.

Examining the sources of evidence in e-cigarette policy recommendations: A citation network analysis of international public health recommendations

Background Public health policies and recommendations aim to be informed by the best available evidence. Evidence underpinning e-cigarettes policy recommendations has been necessarily limited due to the novelty of the technology and the lack of long-term epidemiological studies and trials. Some public health bodies have actively encouraged e-cigarette use whilst others have raised concerns over introducing new health risks and renormalising tobacco smoking. Using citation network analysis we investigated the author conflicts of interest and study funding statements within sources of evidence used by public health bodies when making recommendations about e-cigarette policy. Methods We conducted citation network analysis of public health recommendation documents across four purposively selected diverse jurisdictions: WHO, UK, Australia, and USA. We extracted all citations from 15 public health recommendation documents, with more detailed data collected for influential citations (used in 3+ recommendation documents). We analysed the relationships between the sources of evidence used across jurisdictions using block modelling to determine if similar groups of documents were used across different jurisdictions. We assessed the frequency and nature of conflicts of interest. Results 1700 unique citations were included across the 15 public health recommendation documents, with zero to 923 citations per document (median = 63, IQR = 7.5–132). The evidence base underpinning public health recommendations did not systematically differ across jurisdictions. Of the 1700 citations included, the majority were journal articles (n = 1179). Across 1081 journal articles published between 1998–2018, 200 declared a conflict of interest, 288 contained no mention of conflicts of interest, and 593 declared none. Conflicts of interest were reported with tobacco (3%; n = 37 journal articles of 1081), e-cigarette (7%; n = 72), and pharmaceutical companies (12%; n = 127), with such conflicts present even in the most recent years. There were 53 influential citations, the most common study type was basic science research without human subjects (e.g. examination of aerosols and e-liquids) (n = 18) followed by systematic review (n = 10); with randomised control trial being least common (n = 4). Network analysis identified clusters of highly-cited articles with a higher prevalence of conflicts of interest. Conclusion Public health bodies across different jurisdictions drew upon similar sources of evidence, despite articulating different policy approaches to e-cigarettes. The evidence drawn upon, including the most influential evidence, contained substantial conflicts of interest (including relationships with e-cigarette and tobacco industries). Processes to explicitly manage conflicts of interest arising from the underlying evidence base may be required when developing public health recommendations.

A - 31 Competitiveness Drives Young University Students off the Couch

Objective Purpose. Daily physical activity (PA) is effective in supporting cognitive and physical health. However, many Canadians do not meet the public health recommendation of at least 150 mins/week of moderate-to-vigorous PA. The current study examined individual differences in traits such as motivation (intrinsic-IM, extrinsic-EM), and competitiveness, as well as executive abilities (strategic planning; SP) in predicting physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Methods Method. 102 university students ages 18 to 30 (M = 20.78 years; 74% female) were recruited from a mid-sized Canadian city. Using a formula that differentially weighted moderate and vigorous activity (measured with the International PA Questionnaire), we fit a linear model predicting PA within the past week by SP (Executive Function Index), IM and EM (Global Motivation Scale), and competitiveness (Revised Competitiveness Scale). Results Results. Only competitiveness predicted PA within the past week (β = 0.309, p = 0.001). Follow-up regressions indicated enjoyment of the activity being the most predictive component (β =0.231, p = 0.017). Both EM (β = 0.202, p = 0.015) and IM (β = −0.223, p = 0.012) predicted sedentary behaviour when accounting for competitiveness and demographics (age, gender). Conclusions Conclusions. Strategic planning and motivation did not predict exercise within the past week and therefore did not appear to serve as precursors to PA engagement in this university sample. Competitiveness, and in particular the enjoyment of the activity, significantly predicted exercise engagement; however, IM was negatively associated with sedentary behaviour, whereas EM was positively associated, suggesting motivational differences in sedentary behaviour but not physical exercise. Further research is required to account for individual differences in physical activity engagement.

Sugary drinks taxation: industry’s lobbying strategies, practices, and arguments in the Brazilian legislature

Objective: to assess the strategies, practices, and arguments used by the industry to lobby legislators against sugary drinks taxation in Brazil. Design: we performed a content analysis of arguments put forward by sugary drink and sugar industries against sugary drinks taxation, using the framework developed by the International Network for Food and Obesity/NCD Research, Monitoring and Action Support to assess corporate political activity of the food industry. Setting: two public hearings held in 2017 and 2018 in the Brazilian Legislature. Participants: representatives from two prominent industry associations – one representing Big Soda and the other representing the main sugar, ethanol, and bioelectricity producers. Results: the ‘Information and messaging’ and ‘Policy substitution’ strategies were identified. Five practices were identified in the ‘Information and messaging’ strategy (four described in the original framework and an additional practice, ‘Stress the environmental importance of the industry’). Mechanisms not included in the original framework identified were ‘Stress the reduction of CO2 emissions promoted by the industry’; ‘Question the effectiveness of regulation’; ‘Suggest public-private partnerships’; ‘Shift the blame away from the product’; and ‘Question sugary drinks taxation as a public health recommendation’. No new practices or mechanisms to the original framework emerged in the ‘Policy substitution’ strategy. Conclusions: the strategies and practices are used collectively and complement each other. Arguments hereby identified are in line with those reported in other countries under different contexts and using different methodologies. Future research should address whether and under what conditions lobbying from this industry sector is effective in the Brazilian Legislature.

Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load to the Biochemical Profile of Dyslipidemic Patients

Background: The positive and negative health effects of dietary carbohydrates are of interest to both researchers and consumers. Low glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) carbohydrates have been shown to have favourable effects on blood lipid parameters. Objective: This study aims to investigate whether the GI and GL diet in dyslipidemic individuals. Methods: The subjects, 15 men and 15 women, dyslipidemic patients followed up at Hospital de Coari, were invited to answer a self-administered questionnaire for 3 days about food intake. The fasting biochemical profile was analyzed, such as total cholesterol, triglycerides and blood glucose. Results: Low GI diet daily value were observed in women and men and GL diet daily value below the minimum low line for both. A correlation was found between GI and GL diet with triglycerides levels and woman and not in men. Lunch GL value were associated with blood triglycerides parameters. Biochemical profile showed an increase in fasting blood glucose only in men and in lipid levels for both. Conclusion: Dyslipidemic individuals might be potential influencing factors in the associations between GI and GL diet and dyslipidemia, suggesting such modifications could potentially be a useful public health recommendation.

Your Health vs. My Liberty: Philosophical beliefs dominated reflection and identifiable victim effects when predicting public health recommendation compliance

Philosophers and scientists have emphasized how our responses to global crises are often alarmingly ineffective. For example, people often prioritize a few nearby victims over many victims abroad. We wanted to understand individual differences in responses to public health crises during the COVID19 pandemic. Two experiments investigated how compliance with public health recommendations depended on messaging, cognitive style, and prior philosophical beliefs (Total N = 998). One of the two experiments found that compliance with public health recommendations was slightly improved by messaging about individual victims compared to messaging about statistical victims—i.e., "flatten the curve" graphs. However, both experiments found that beliefs about morality were more potent predictors of compliance than strategic messaging or reflective reasoning. In the second experiment, religiosity and beliefs about science were similarly predictive. This suggests that non-compliance with public health recommendations may not be a matter of ineffective messaging or reasoning, but philosophical differences.

Differences in adaptive and maladaptive psychosocial responses to chronic pain among adults with varying physical activity levels

Aim: Chronic pain is a global public health problem that detrimentally impacts people’s health and well-being. Physical activity is beneficial and a recommended self-management strategy for adults living with chronic pain. Yet, many of them struggle to meet the public health recommendation of 150+ minutes/week of moderate–vigorous physical activity. Identifying modifiable factors related to physical activity participation is needed. Adaptive (i.e., self-regulatory efficacy to overcome pain and related barriers [SRE-pain], psychological flexibility) and maladaptive (i.e. pain anxiety) responses were the modifiable factors examined in the present study. The purpose was to investigate whether adults living with chronic pain who were sufficiently active, insufficiently active or inactive significantly differed in their adaptive and maladaptive responses to chronic pain. Methods: Adults with self-reported chronic pain for 6+ months ( N = 318) completed an online survey that measured physical activity, psychological flexibility, SRE-pain and pain anxiety. Sufficiently active ( n = 139), insufficiently active ( n = 91) and inactive ( n = 88) groups were identified. Results: A significant multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) ( p < .001) with univariate follow-up tests illustrated that the sufficiently active individuals reported the highest psychological flexibility and SRE-pain compared to insufficiently active and inactive individuals ( p’s < .001). Overall, sufficiently active participants responded the most adaptively and least maladaptively to their pain, followed by the insufficiently active. Inactive participants responded the most maladaptively. Conclusion: Identifying differences in adaptive and maladaptive responses to pain highlights possible modifiable factors to target in future physical activity intervention research that focuses on improving chronic pain self-management.

Effects of Climbing Choice, Demographic, and Climate on Walking Behavior

Walking is a public health recommendation to increase physical activity. Although walking for transport is associated with health benefits, it is frequently avoided when a mechanized alternative is available and when the weather or individuals’ available resources are unfavorable. The present quasi-experimental study used chosen walking speed to estimate the use of resources by pedestrians and investigated 730 pedestrians’ behavior when approaching a choice point between a short stair and a ramp at an exit from a university campus toward the local train station on six separate days. Results revealed that individuals who climbed the stairs walked faster than those who chose the ramp. In addition, females and those who were overweight walked slower than their comparator groups. Temperature was associated with walking behavior; as temperature increased, the walking speed of pedestrians decreased. Moreover, the purpose of walking is an important determinant of walking speed. Minimization of time to arrive at the train station as quickly as possible is a plausible alternative explanation for the effects of resource allocation on walking speed.