On the stability of risk and time preferences amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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ABSTRACT: Supplementary information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10683-021-09727-6.
SUBMITTER: Drichoutis AC
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8360830 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Background Additional time spent on social media (SM) due to the COVID-19 pandemic, increased adolescents’ exposure to food and beverage (F&B) advertisements. The marketing of unhealthy F&B products featuring celebrities and influencers may contribute to an increased preference towards various products, potentially influencing consumption patterns and increasing one's long-term health risk. Objective The objective of this study was to examine SM's influence on adolescents’ food and beverage preferences during the COVID-19 pandemic and explore their parents’ perceptions of this phenomenon. Study Design, Setting, Participants Three, one-hour, semi-structured virtual focus groups were conducted with seven dyads of 6th grade students and their parents (n = 14) from a suburban school district in northeastern Pennsylvania. Students and parents participated in separate focus groups and completed a demographic survey that included SM use characteristics in June-September 2021. Measurable Outcome/Analysis Focus group transcripts were transcribed, coded, and analyzed by both authors using a constant comparison approach. Results Three themes that emerged from adolescents were: increased SM usage, factors that increased consumption, and increased recall of memorable aspects of F&B advertisements. Themes that emerged from parents were: parental observations of adolescents’ less healthy eating behaviors, parental influence over F&B purchases, and increased engagement in food trends seen on SM. Conclusions These themes suggest increased SM use influenced adolescents' ability to recall specific F&B brands and potentially influenced consumption. Safeguards seem to remain in place regarding parents’ influence over the adolescents’ F&B purchase requests. Additionally, parents may be aware of the targeted marketing used on SM and its potential to influence adolescents’ eating behaviors. These findings suggest the importance for parents, dietitians, and other healthcare providers to be aware of increased SM usage and the potential influence F&B advertisements may have on adolescent eating behaviors. These findings will also be important for nutrition educators to understand when teaching these risks to students/future practitioners. Funding Villanova University's Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program
| S-EPMC9260031 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Mobility restrictions have been identified as key non-pharmaceutical interventions to limit the spread of the SARS-COV-2 epidemics. However, these interventions present significant drawbacks to the social fabric and negative outcomes for the real economy. In this paper we propose a real-time monitoring framework for tracking the economic consequences of various forms of mobility reductions involving European countries. We adopt a granular representation of mobility patterns during both the first and second waves of SARS-COV-2 in Italy, Germany, France and Spain to provide an analytical characterization of the rate of losses of industrial production by means of a nowcasting methodology. Our approach exploits the information encoded in massive datasets of human mobility provided by Facebook and Google, which are published at higher frequencies than the target economic variables, in order to obtain an early estimate before the official data becomes available. Our results show, in first place, the ability of mobility-related policies to induce a contraction of mobility patterns across jurisdictions. Besides this contraction, we observe a substitution effect which increases mobility within jurisdictions. Secondly, we show how industrial production strictly follows the dynamics of population commuting patterns and of human mobility trends, which thus provide information on the day-by-day variations in countries' economic activities. Our work, besides shedding light on how policy interventions targeted to induce a mobility contraction impact the real economy, constitutes a practical toolbox for helping governments to design appropriate and balanced policy actions aimed at containing the SARS-COV-2 spread, while mitigating the detrimental effect on the economy. Our study reveals how complex mobility patterns can have unequal consequences to economic losses across countries and call for a more tailored implementation of restrictions to balance the containment of contagion with the need to sustain economic activities.
| S-EPMC8219782 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In this two-study research using latent profile analysis (LPA), we investigated intra-individual combinations of conscientiousness, autonomy, self-regulation, and extraversion. Based on these combinations, we designed profiles and explored telecommuting preferences and job outcomes of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Study 1, we recruited 199 participants (77 females, ages ranging from 18 to 65). Results of this study revealed three profiles. One profile scored high on all of the variables and displayed preferences for working on-site more than the other profiles. Additionally, this profile showed higher work engagement, job satisfaction, and perceived productivity than the other two profiles. To validate these findings, we conducted a second study with a sample of 492 participants (169 females; age ranged from 18 to 65). The results yielded five profiles, one scoring high on all of the variables. Similar to Study 1, this profile exhibited higher work engagement, job satisfaction, and perceived productivity than the other four profiles. Individuals in this profile preferred to work on-site compared to individuals in other profiles. Our findings add to the research demonstrating the importance of personality characteristics for telecommuting preferences and work-related outcomes.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-021-02496-8.
| S-EPMC8602983 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This article studies the stability of risk-preference during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results differ between risk-preference measurements and also men and women. We use March 13, 2020, when President Trump declared a national state of emergency as a time anchor to define the pre-pandemic and on-pandemic periods. The pre-pandemic experiment was conducted on February 21, 2020. There are three on-pandemic rounds conducted 10 days, 15 days, and 20 days after the COVID-19 emergency declaration. We include four different risk-preference measures. Men are more sensitive to the pandemic and become more risk-averse based on the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Women become more risk-averse in the Social and Experience Seeking domains based on the results from the Domain-Specific Risk-Taking (DOSPERT) and Sensation Seeking Scales (SSS). Both men's and women's risk-preference are stable during COVID-19 based on a Gamble Choice (GC) task. The results match our hypotheses which are based on the discussion about whether the psychological construct of risk-preference is general or domain-specific. The differential outcomes between incentivized behavioral and self-reported propensity measures of risk-preference in our experiment show the caveats for studies using a single measure to test risk-preference changes during COVID-19.
| S-EPMC8868569 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundMultiple efforts have been taken across the world to bridge gaps in evidence and provide recommendations for dementia care and caregiver support during the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to review the available literature on measures used to alleviate the negative impacts of the pandemic on dementia care.MethodsWe searched three databases: PubMed, CINAHL and PsycINFO to identify studies that described strategies that were recommended or taken to provide care and support to persons with dementia and their caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic.ResultsWe included a total of 37 papers, originating from high, middle and low-income countries. We also included 6 papers exploring safety of COVID-19 vaccinations. Infection prevention recommendations predominantly involved providing consistent reminders to persons with dementia to engage in infection prevention measures and included measures to restrict wandering in long-term care settings to reduce spread of infection. Medical care included tele and video consultations to maintain and monitor clinical stability. Guidance for continuing rehabilitation activities for persons with dementia through remotely conducted cognitive stimulating activities, physical exercises and environmental modifications were further highlighted by multiple studies/articles. In addition, strategies to support caregivers were also advised and included teleconsultations and psycho-educational programs.ConclusionThe COVID-19 pandemic has exposed gaps in health and social care systems across the world, but has also revealed the enduring dedication of clinicians, expert groups and dementia support organizations to modify and adapt existing dementia care services to meet the needs of persons with dementia and their caregivers during periods of emergency.
| S-EPMC8763414 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Among over 200 COVID-19 affected countries, some are fighting to "flatten the curve", while some others are considering reopening after lockdown. It remains unclear how different reopening strategies obstruct the local virus containment and impact the economy. We develop a model with travelers across heterogeneous epicenters. A low-risk area attempts to safely reopen utilizing internal policies, such as social distancing and contact tracing, and external policies, including capacity quota, quarantine, and tests. Simulations based on the COVID-19 scenario show that external policies differ in efficacy. They can substitute each other and complement internal policies. Simultaneous relaxation of both channels may lead to a new wave of COVID-19 and large economic costs. This work highlights the importance of quantitative assessment prior to implementing reopening strategies.
| S-EPMC7996987 | biostudies-literature
Project description:We analyze how far-sightedness and risk aversion as well as the perceived trustworthiness of others correlate with COVID-19-related protective behaviors in France. We leverage individual-level data from the corona survey of the Survey of Health Aging and Retirement in Europe linked with a paper questionnaire survey about preferences conducted in France just before the coronavirus outbreak. Our results suggest that far-sightedness and risk aversion are strong predictors of individuals' protective behavior. More far-sighted individuals are more likely to not visit their family members anymore, wear a mask, and keep their distance from others when outside, wash their hands more regularly and cover their cough. Risk aversion increases the likelihood of not meeting more than 5 other people and not meeting with family members anymore. Concerning the perceived trustworthiness, we find that a higher level of trust in others reduces compliance with the recommendations about meeting with 5 or more people and family gatherings. We interpret this result as a sign that individuals with trust in others perceive a lower risk of being infected by friends and family members. Hence, they are more willing to take risks when they engage in social interactions when they perceive their relatives as trustworthy. The government should therefore consider individuals' heterogeneity in preferences and beliefs when implementing a strategy to encourage people to comply with its COVID-19 protective recommendations.
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Project description:IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020 necessitated the removal of medical students from direct patient care activities to prevent disease spread and to conserve personal protective equipment. In order for medical student education to continue, virtual and online electives were designed and implemented expeditiously. We created a virtual curriculum that taught quality improvement (QI) skills within the context of the global pandemic.MethodsThis 4-week curriculum enrolled 16 students. Students completed the revised QI knowledge application tool (QIKAT-R) before and after the course to assess QI knowledge. Students completed prereading, online modules, and received lectures on QI and incident command systems. Each group designed their own QI project related to our hospital system's response to the pandemic. Finally, groups presented their projects at a peer symposium and completed peer evaluations.ResultsStudents' QIKAT-R scores improved throughout the course from a mean of 5.5 (SD = 1.3) to a mean of 7.5 (SD = 1.1; p < 0.001). Students reported that the virtual learning experience delivered the material effectively, and all students agreed that they would participate in QI work in the future.DiscussionPatient safety and QI topics are content areas for multiple medical licensing examinations. Virtual learning is an effective way to deliver QI content to medical students and residents, especially when projects are trainee-led, QI-trained faculty serve as mentors, and the projects harmonize with institutional goals. Our virtual pandemic-focused curriculum has demonstrated efficacy in increasing medical student QI knowledge.
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Project description:COVID-19 caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2 has gripped essentially all countries in the world, and has infected millions and killed hundreds of thousands of people. Several innovative approaches are in development to restrain the spread of SARS-CoV-2. In particular, BCG, a vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), is being considered as an alternative therapeutic modality. BCG vaccine is known to induce both humoral and adaptive immunities, thereby activating both nonspecific and cross-reactive immune responses in the host, which combined could effectively resist other pathogens including SARS-CoV-2. Notably, some studies have revealed that SARS-CoV-2 infectivity, case positivity, and mortality rate have been higher in countries that have not adopted BCG vaccination than in countries that have done so. This review presents an overview of the concepts underlying BCG vaccination and its nonspecific immuological effects and protection, resulting in 'trained immunity' and potential utility for resisting COVID-19.
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Project description:In this work, we examine the changes in demand for bike-sharing platforms with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Using the fixed-effects regression formulation of difference-in-differences, we evaluate how the demand for bike-sharing platforms changed after the first cases of Covid were discovered and after the first executive orders were implemented. Accounting for weather conditions, socio-economic characteristics, time trends, and fixed effects across cities, our findings indicate that there is an increase in daily bike-sharing trips by 22% on average after the first Covid-19 case diagnosis, and a decrease of 30% after the first executive order implementation in each municipality, using the data up to August 2020. Moreover, we observe a 22% increase in weekday-specific trip frequency after the first Covid-19 case diagnosis and a 28% decrease in weekend-specific trip frequency after the first executive order implementation. Finally, we find that there is an increase in the frequency of trips on bike-sharing platforms in more bike-friendly, transit-friendly, and pedestrian-friendly cities upon both the first Covid-19 case diagnosis and the first executive order implementation.
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