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Does precise case disclosure limit precautionary behavior? Evidence from COVID-19 in Singapore.

ABSTRACT: Limiting the spread of contagious diseases can involve both government-managed and voluntary efforts. Governments have a number of policy options beyond direct intervention that can shape individuals' responses to a pandemic and its associated costs. During its first wave of COVID-19 cases, Singapore was among a few countries that attempted to adjust behavior through the announcement of detailed case information. Singapore's Ministry of Health maintained and shared precise, daily information detailing local travel behavior and residences of COVID-19 cases. We use this policy along with device-level cellphone data to quantify how local and national COVID-19 case announcements trigger differential behavioral changes. We find evidence that individuals are three times more responsive to outbreaks in granularly defined locales. Conditional on keeping infection rates at a manageable level, the results suggest economic value in this type of transparency by mitigating the scope of precautionary activity reductions.

SUBMITTER: Janssen A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8556068 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Does precise case disclosure limit precautionary behavior? Evidence from COVID-19 in Singapore.

Janssen Aljoscha A Shapiro Matthew H MH

Economic analysis and policy 20211030

Limiting the spread of contagious diseases can involve both government-managed and voluntary efforts. Governments have a number of policy options beyond direct intervention that can shape individuals' responses to a pandemic and its associated costs. During its first wave of COVID-19 cases, Singapore was among a few countries that attempted to adjust behavior through the announcement of detailed case information. Singapore's Ministry of Health maintained and shared precise, daily information det ...[more]

PMID: 34744260

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Project description:BackgroundDesigning a health promotion campaign is never an easy task, especially during a pandemic of a highly infectious disease such as COVID-19. In Saudi Arabia, many attempts have been made to raise public awareness about COVID-19 infection and precautionary health measures. However, most of the health information delivered through the national dashboard and the COVID-19 awareness campaigns are generic and do not necessarily make the impact needed to be seen on individuals' behavior. Health messages need to be applicable and reverent to the individual in the audience.ObjectiveIn light of Fogg-Behavior model, this research aims to build and validate a behavior-change-based messaging campaign to promote precautionary health behavior in individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Intervention messages can then be targeted appropriately during the pandemic.MethodsAn initial library of 32 text-based and video-based messages were developed and validated based on Fogg behavior model for behavior change. Based on this model, three groups of messages were created to reflect the model's three theoretical concepts of motivation, ability and triggers. Each group of messages is designed to target different segment of the audience. The content of the messages was developed based on resources from the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia. The validity of this content was evaluated by domain experts through the content validity index.ResultsFogg-Behavior Model was used to segment the audience into three different groups based on their perceived ability and motivation. The three groups of messages designed for those groups were found relevant to Fogg theoretical concepts. Thirteen professional health care workers (n = 13) evaluated the content of the message libraries in Arabic and English. Thirty-two messages were found to have acceptable content validity (I-CVI = 0.87).ConclusionsThis research introduced Fogg Behavior Model as a behavior change model to develop targeted messages for three groups of the audience based on their motivation and ability level toward maintaining precautionary behavior during the pandemic. This targeted awareness messaging campaign can be utilized by health authorities to raise individuals' awareness about the precautionary measures that should be taken, maintain these measures and hence help in reducing the number of positive cases in the city of Jeddah.

Project description:BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has revealed challenges that medical students face when healthcare systems are under intense pressure. There is a need to assess medical students' education needs in pandemic preparedness. The objective of this mixed-methods study was threefold: (1) to assess COVID-19 perceived efficacy, susceptibility, and anxiety in relation to health literacy; (2) to describe attitudes towards a policy of precautionary measures against COVID-19 and willingness to work during an outbreak; and (3) to examine multilevel factors associated with willingness to work.MethodsAn online survey was conducted among 263 medical students in Singapore during the lockdown period in July 2020. Participants were surveyed on COVID-19 related literacy, perceptions, anxiety, attitudes towards a policy of precautionary measures, and willingness to work during an outbreak. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to determine the factors associated with the key outcome variable of willingness to work. In addition, open-ended questions were used to assess medical education needs, which were reported using thematic analysis.ResultsPerceived adequacy of COVID-19 information was associated with higher perceived efficacy, lower perceived susceptibility, and lower anxiety levels among the students. Medical students were mostly supportive of COVID-19 precautionary measures except for relatively intrusive measures like in-home surveillance. The degree of willingness to work during an outbreak varied based on certain conditions, in particular family's health and safety, and was associated with self-efficacy, perceived susceptibility, and hospital capacity of outbreak management.ConclusionsMedical students' attitudes towards a policy of precautionary measures varied depending on legality, financial and psychological support, and privacy concerns. Health literacy played an important role in increasing the efficacy of protection against COVID-19 and reducing pandemic-related anxiety among medical students. Their willingness to work during an outbreak was increased by an effective policy of precautionary measures, hospital capacity to manage a pandemic, and assurance of family safety. Medical education should include pandemic preparedness to better prepare students to aid in pandemics, with emphasis on public health policy and ethics coupled with clinical training targeted to managing outbreaks.

Project description:RationaleAt the start of 2021, several SARS-CoV-2 cluster outbreaks in schools threatened in-person education and created a fairly chaotic and frightening environment for school personnel. To keep the schools open while preventing COVID-19 outbreaks, intensive diagnostic testing in teachers and school personnel was strongly recommended but missing at the time.ObjectivesA project was launched in Belgian schools to weekly analyze the morning saliva of school personnel using PCR-testing to detect and prevent COVID-19 positive cases. In this quasi-experimental study, we aimed to examine whether the implementation of this saliva testing project impacted school personnel's pandemic-related health concerns, well-being, and adherence to the health-protective measures, contrasting experimental with control schools.MethodsThe data were collected during the third wave (Alpha-wave, February-March 2021) of the pandemic. The sample consisted of 435 participants from 34 different schools across Flanders (Belgium) (78.8% female; M age = 43.87 years, range = 21-67) of which 82% participated in the weekly saliva tests (i.e., experimental group) and 18% took part in the control group.ResultsResults from a series of linear mixed regression models showed that saliva testing buffered against an increase in health concerns among tested school personnel but did not affect participants' general well-being. Slight declines in adherence to the health-protective behaviors were observed, yet this was only the case for participants who felt less supported by their school principal. High degrees of principals' support also fostered the sharpest decreases in school staff's pandemic-related health concerns.ConclusionsWhen keeping the schools open in unstable pandemic times, weekly saliva testing is a promising strategy to prevent cluster outbreaks while simultaneously safeguarding health concerns among school personnel. School principals appear to play a critical role in the implementation of saliva testing to secure positive effects.

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Does precise case disclosure limit precautionary behavior? Evidence from COVID-19 in Singapore.

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Does precise case disclosure limit precautionary behavior? Evidence from COVID-19 in Singapore.

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