Prevention strategies of panic buying during disaster

Panic buying is arguably an (ir)rational human behavior that is observed at times of emergencies. Although the phenomenon has been noted across the globe, very little evidence has been identified to prevent it. We aimed to identify, assess, and categorize the prevention strategies of panic buying during disasters. Sensible media reporting, psychological measures (online group counseling measures, promotion of kinship), (de)marketing (rationing, avoiding price hike), public health authority measures (assurance of the stock, raising awareness, subsidized goods sales, reduction of import duty, monitoring and punishment, psychosocial support, direct, clear, and sensible communication to the people), and supply chain management (assurance of the stock, sustainable supply, import from an alternative source, product substitution, resilient e-commerce, rapid replenishment) were the major identified domains of prevention for panic buying. This chapter identified and discussed importantly and perhaps preliminary strategies for the prevention of panic buying relating them to the different phases of disaster. Preparedness for controlling the panic among the population during future outbreaks should have an emphasis on these identified domains of preventive strategies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Panic buying and environmental disasters: Management and mitigation approaches

Panic buying is a common response during crises;however, to date it has been a significantly under-researched area. Recent evidence suggests that an environmental stimulus, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, war, earthquakes, flooding, public health emergencies (SARS, MARS) can trigger this phenomenon. As an environmental crisis takes its toll, the understanding of panic buying becomes overlooked. Nevertheless, panic buying causes series of events separate from these primary events. Understanding the management of emergencies and disasters should be an integral part of dealing with panic buying since every major environmental crisis has the potential to initiate panic buying behaviour in the general public. This book will analyse episodes of panic buying and major environmental crisis focusing on specific prevention strategies. This book is a groundbreaking approach to join up the management of panic buying during a public health emergency. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Communication during disasters: Role in contributing to and prevention of panic buying

Panic buying usually happens before and during any environmental crisis or an adverse environmental stimulus at least such as a flood, sudden policy change (economic sanction), COVID-19 pandemic, or war. Mass behaviour is shaped by the disseminated message from various sources of mass media including social media platforms. Although the credibility of the contents has been challenged, it affects perception, modifies fear and anxiety, and potentiates group behaviour like panic buying and migration. Media depiction of short supply, uncertain conditions, long queues in front of the supermarkets, empty shelves, and inconsistent information about the primary disaster would disseminate panic buying behaviour. Messages ensuring the supply of staples, stable supply chain management, and adequate health literacy with direct, clear, and sensible communication would have a preventive role in panic buying during disasters. Here raises a big question, who will look after it during a pandemic or war? This chapter discusses the theoretical perspectives and practical suggestions on the communication pattern during an environmental disaster and how it affects panic buying behaviour. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Measurement of panic buying in individual and social level

Panic buying is a consumer behavior noted during environmental disasters and crises. Although it has been reported since the antique, episodes during COVID-19 attract global attention. Measurement of purchasing and stockpiling behavior is needed for the stakeholders to formulate prevention strategies. Panic buying behavior involves the interplay of biological, neurological, psychological, personality traits, negative emotional states, social interaction, and distrust. Due to its multifactorial interaction, transdisciplinary nature, close association with the disasters, and being short, sudden, and episodic pattern, measurement is challenging. The panic buying scale was developed during the COVID-19 pandemic from a Brazilian sample that has been validated and utilized in some other countries. The instrument needs to be tested with different populations across different countries to provide verification of reliability and validity. The development of new scales measuring various aspects of panic buying is required to tap the phenomenon more aptly. This chapter highlights the measurement aspects of panic buying on both individual and social levels. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Panic Buying in Bangladesh: An Exploration of Media Reports.

Background: As an erratic human behavior, panic buying is an understudied research area. Although panic buying has been reported in the past, it has not been studied systematically in Bangladesh. Aim: This study aimed to explore the characteristics of panic buying episodes in Bangladesh in comparison to current concepts. Methods: A retrospective and explorative search were done using the search engine Google on November 6, 2020, with the search term "panic buying in Bangladesh." All the available news reports published in the English language were extracted. A thorough content analysis was done focusing on the study objectives. Results: From the initial search, a total of 30 reports were extracted. However, six reports were not included based upon the exclusion criteria, resulting in an analysis of 24 reports. Five panic buying episodes were identified, discussing the precipitating events, responsible factors, goods acquired through panic buying, and prevention measures. Flood, curfew, COVID-19, and export ban were found to be precipitating events. Media reports frequently mentioned prevention strategies, expert opinion, supply chain status, rationing, and government action. The reported goods that were panic bought were items necessary for daily living such as rice, oil, spices, and safety products such as hand sanitizer and masks. Conclusion: The study revealed preliminary findings on panic buying in Bangladesh; however, they are aligned with the current concept of it. Further empirical studies are warranted to see the geographical variation, precise factors, and to test the culturally appropriate controlling measures.

Prevention strategies of panic buying during disaster

Panic buying is arguably an (ir)rational human behavior that is observed at times of emergencies. Although the phenomenon has been noted across the globe, very little evidence has been identified to prevent it. We aimed to identify, assess, and categorize the prevention strategies of panic buying during disasters. Sensible media reporting, psychological measures (online group counseling measures, promotion of kinship), (de)marketing (rationing, avoiding price hike), public health authority measures (assurance of the stock, raising awareness, subsidized goods sales, reduction of import duty, monitoring and punishment, psychosocial support, direct, clear, and sensible communication to the people), and supply chain management (assurance of the stock, sustainable supply, import from an alternative source, product substitution, resilient e-commerce, rapid replenishment) were the major identified domains of prevention for panic buying. This chapter identified and discussed importantly and perhaps preliminary strategies for the prevention of panic buying relating them to the different phases of disaster. Preparedness for controlling the panic among the population during future outbreaks should have an emphasis on these identified domains of preventive strategies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Measurement of panic buying in individual and social level

Panic buying is a consumer behavior noted during environmental disasters and crises. Although it has been reported since the antique, episodes during COVID-19 attract global attention. Measurement of purchasing and stockpiling behavior is needed for the stakeholders to formulate prevention strategies. Panic buying behavior involves the interplay of biological, neurological, psychological, personality traits, negative emotional states, social interaction, and distrust. Due to its multifactorial interaction, transdisciplinary nature, close association with the disasters, and being short, sudden, and episodic pattern, measurement is challenging. The panic buying scale was developed during the COVID-19 pandemic from a Brazilian sample that has been validated and utilized in some other countries. The instrument needs to be tested with different populations across different countries to provide verification of reliability and validity. The development of new scales measuring various aspects of panic buying is required to tap the phenomenon more aptly. This chapter highlights the measurement aspects of panic buying on both individual and social levels. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Communication during disasters: Role in contributing to and prevention of panic buying

Panic buying usually happens before and during any environmental crisis or an adverse environmental stimulus at least such as a flood, sudden policy change (economic sanction), COVID-19 pandemic, or war. Mass behaviour is shaped by the disseminated message from various sources of mass media including social media platforms. Although the credibility of the contents has been challenged, it affects perception, modifies fear and anxiety, and potentiates group behaviour like panic buying and migration. Media depiction of short supply, uncertain conditions, long queues in front of the supermarkets, empty shelves, and inconsistent information about the primary disaster would disseminate panic buying behaviour. Messages ensuring the supply of staples, stable supply chain management, and adequate health literacy with direct, clear, and sensible communication would have a preventive role in panic buying during disasters. Here raises a big question, who will look after it during a pandemic or war? This chapter discusses the theoretical perspectives and practical suggestions on the communication pattern during an environmental disaster and how it affects panic buying behaviour. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Panic buying and environmental disasters: Management and mitigation approaches

Panic buying is a common response during crises;however, to date it has been a significantly under-researched area. Recent evidence suggests that an environmental stimulus, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, war, earthquakes, flooding, public health emergencies (SARS, MARS) can trigger this phenomenon. As an environmental crisis takes its toll, the understanding of panic buying becomes overlooked. Nevertheless, panic buying causes series of events separate from these primary events. Understanding the management of emergencies and disasters should be an integral part of dealing with panic buying since every major environmental crisis has the potential to initiate panic buying behaviour in the general public. This book will analyse episodes of panic buying and major environmental crisis focusing on specific prevention strategies. This book is a groundbreaking approach to join up the management of panic buying during a public health emergency. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Panic buying research: A bibliometric review.

Background: Panic buying has been reported during a period of crisis when people buy an extra amount of essential commodities and hoard them anticipating their future utility. As a newer entity, a bibliometric analysis would reveal the research gaps for further studies. We aimed to do a bibliometric analysis of researches published on panic buying over the past two decades. Methods: A literature search was conducted in the SCOPUS database using the keyword "panic buying". All published research in the English language between 1st January 2001 to 1st August 2021 was included in the analysis of this study. Results: We identified a total of 142 articles on panic buying published over the past two decades. There is an exponential increase in the publication on this topic during the COVID-19 pandemic (n=127). Majority of the articles were published from the United States (n=23), followed by the United Kingdom (n=20), and China (n=20). The Frontiers in Public Health and Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services published the highest number of articles (eight each). Arafat SMY published the highest number of publications as a single author (n=10) and Enam Medical College and Hospital, Bangladesh has the highest number of papers as an institution (n=10). Among all the publishers, Elsevier has published the maximum number of papers (n=38). Conclusion: There is an exponential growth of panic buying research during 2020-21. The global crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic has been attributed to the recent rise in panic buying research.

Business perspectives of panic buying

Panic buying is one of the irrational human behaviors mostly being observed during environmental emergencies. Several domains of life overlap while explaining the action and instigating the prevention strategies. Consumer behavior affects and is affected by marketing policies, supply chain management, and economics principles. A sudden increase in demand resulting in an acute shortage of necessary goods challenges supply chain efficiency. Fraudulent marketers can disseminate the panic buying provoking stimulus to sell their specific products to create chaos in the environment. This chapter discusses the relationship of panic buying with the business dimensions, such as how supply chain affects and is affected by panic buying, role marketing principles, industrial buying characteristics due to panic buying, and demand-supply metrics of panic buying. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Mass media and panic buying

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into light several erratic human behaviors. Panic buying is one of them. There is a dearth of evidence exploring the relationship between panic buying and other environmental issues. Nevertheless, media has a bidirectional relationship with the behaviors attributing as a spreading factor vis-a-vis a preventive factor. Spreading fear, rumor, scarcity, price hike, and supply hindrance heralded to panic buying. On the other hand, disseminating the government's action, expert opinions, underlying psychology, remedial measures, and its impact prevent the behavior. Drawing upon various media, communication, and social psychology theories such as agenda-setting theory, framing theory, priming theory, cultivation theory, social cognition theory, and risk perception, this chapter offers an understanding of the causative and preventive role of mass media in panic buying behavior during emergencies and uncertain situations among people. Finally, it provides some recommendations for policymakers and media managers on controlling panic buying. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Panic buying: Perspectives and prevention

This brief provides a thorough overview of the history and underlying motivations for consumer panic buying, evaluating psychological perspectives on this behavior on both an individual and societal level. The first volume of its kind to focus specifically on the topic of panic buying, the book situates its analysis within the context of the modern COVID-19 pandemic as well as in a broader psychology context. Chapters encompass a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives, incorporating insights from consumer psychology, marketing, sociology, and public health. Finally, contributors discuss the long-term implications of panic buying and potential prevention strategies. Panic Buying: Perspectives and Prevention will be a useful reference for researchers and students in consumer psychology, as well as those interested emergency preparedness, and supply chain management. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Suicide numbers during the first 9-15 months of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with pre-existing trends: An interrupted time series analysis in 33 countries.

Background: Predicted increases in suicide were not generally observed in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the picture may be changing and patterns might vary across demographic groups. We aimed to provide a timely, granular picture of the pandemic's impact on suicides globally. Methods: We identified suicide data from official public-sector sources for countries/areas-within-countries, searching websites and academic literature and contacting data custodians and authors as necessary. We sent our first data request on 22nd June 2021 and stopped collecting data on 31st October 2021. We used interrupted time series (ITS) analyses to model the association between the pandemic's emergence and total suicides and suicides by sex-, age- and sex-by-age in each country/area-within-country. We compared the observed and expected numbers of suicides in the pandemic's first nine and first 10-15 months and used meta-regression to explore sources of variation. Findings: We sourced data from 33 countries (24 high-income, six upper-middle-income, three lower-middle-income; 25 with whole-country data, 12 with data for area(s)-within-the-country, four with both). There was no evidence of greater-than-expected numbers of suicides in the majority of countries/areas-within-countries in any analysis; more commonly, there was evidence of lower-than-expected numbers. Certain sex, age and sex-by-age groups stood out as potentially concerning, but these were not consistent across countries/areas-within-countries. In the meta-regression, different patterns were not explained by countries' COVID-19 mortality rate, stringency of public health response, economic support level, or presence of a national suicide prevention strategy. Nor were they explained by countries' income level, although the meta-regression only included data from high-income and upper-middle-income countries, and there were suggestions from the ITS analyses that lower-middle-income countries fared less well. Interpretation: Although there are some countries/areas-within-countries where overall suicide numbers and numbers for certain sex- and age-based groups are greater-than-expected, these countries/areas-within-countries are in the minority. Any upward movement in suicide numbers in any place or group is concerning, and we need to remain alert to and respond to changes as the pandemic and its mental health and economic consequences continue. Funding: None.

The Rising Scourge of Mental Illness and Infodemic: An Outcome of Social Media and COVID-19.

COVID-19 was accompanied with the increasing broadcast of fake news, misinformation and excessive information via social media platforms. This phenomenon has been termed "infodemic", to describe an overwhelming amount of mostly fake, false or inaccurate information which spreads rapidly and impacts negatively on achieving a solution. It would therefore be desirable to use a cautious approach which utilizes culturally sensitive and country specific measures to deal with this occurrence. We aim to raise awareness, likewise draw the attention of global scientific community on this topic of public and mental health concern and it calls for further comments on this issue.

Studies on Sexual Behavior During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Bibliometric Analysis

Sexual relations suffered from a drastic change because of the pandemic of the COVID-19 and its controlling measures. We performed a bibliometric review of articles conducted on sexual behavior through this COVID-19 pandemic. We performed a search in the Scopus database on August 14, 2021. The search was carried out by the mentioned search terms: ?sex* act*? OR ?Sex* Behav*? AND ?COVID-19.? A total of 230 published articles was identified in the Scopus database, out of which 130 research works were funded and 23.91% (n = 55) articles had international collaborations. R Stephenson published the highest number of papers (n = 4) whilst SK Kar had the maximum number of citations (n = 39) and the highest number of citations per article (13). Universidade de S?o Paulo and the University of California were the most productive organizations whilst the USA outnumbered the other countries. Sexually Transmitted Infections (n = 13) and Elsevier (61) published the highest number of papers as a journal and publisher, respectively. It is the first bibliometric review on studies that assessed impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on human sexual activities during which identified that more than half of the articles were funded which is a promising sign for the researchers from this field and for those who are keen to work in this field.

COVID-19 Related Psychological Distress, Fear and Coping: Identification of High-Risk Groups in Bangladesh.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed psychological distress and fear across the globe; however, factors associated with those issues or the ways people cope may vary by country or context. This study aimed to investigate the factors associated with psychological distress, fear, and coping strategies for people living in Bangladesh during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted in August-September 2020 using online platforms in Bangladesh. People residing in Bangladesh, aged ≥18 years, who were proficient in English and able to respond to online questionnaire. The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale was used to assess the psychological stress. Level of fear was assessed using the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, and strategies to cope were assessed using the Brief Resilient Coping Scale. Results: Of the 962 participants, half of them were aged between 30 and 59 years. Being born in Bangladesh, having graduate education, perceived distress due to employment change, effect of COVID-19 on financial situation, having multiple comorbidities, and visiting a healthcare provider in the last 4 weeks were associated with higher levels of both psychological distress and fear of COVID-19. Furthermore, higher psychological distress was associated with being a female (AOR 1.81, 95% CI 1.33-2.47, p < 0.001), being a frontline worker (AOR 1.50, 95% CI 1.04-2.15, p < 0.05), having pre-existing psychiatric problems (AOR 4.03, 95% CI 1.19-13.7, p < 0.05), being a smoker (AOR 2.02, 95% CI 1.32-3.09, p < 0.01), providing care to a known/suspected COVID-19 patient (AOR 1.96, 95% CI 1.40-2.72, p < 0.001), having a recent overseas travel history and being in self-quarantine (AOR 4.59, 95% CI 1.23-17.2, p < 0.05), self-isolation without COVID-19 (AOR 2.63, 95% CI 1.68-4.13, p < 0.001) or being COVID-19 positive (AOR 2.53, 95% CI 1.19-5.34, p < 0.05), and having high levels of fear of COVID-19 (AOR 3.27, 95% CI 2.29-4.66, p < 0.001). A higher level of fear was associated with moderate to high levels of psychological distress (AOR 3.29, 95% CI 2.31-4.69, p < 0.001). People with pre-existing mental health problems were less likely to be resilient (AOR 0.25, 95% CI 0.11-0.54, p < 0.01), whereas those with having an income were more likely to be resilient (AOR 1.46, 95% CI 1.02-2.11, p < 0.05). Conclusion: Effective interventions to support the vulnerable groups including improved access to mental health services are of utmost importance during the pandemic.