Impact of COVID-19 Fear on COVID-19 Policy Support Among University Students in South Korea.

Objective: As the fourth wave of COVID-19 spread in South Korea in 2022, society experienced various adverse effects, including COVID-19 phobia, depression, and loneliness. Addressing these factors became a vital part of the anti-COVID-19 individual and public mental health efforts, conducted partly by fostering COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and compliance with public prevention practice guidelines under the controversial policy of living "with COVID-19". Method: The study used a cross-sectional online survey-based design. Participants comprised a convenience sample of Korean university students (n = 460). A survey was distributed to the participants to measure their agreement/disagreement with the policy "with COVID-19" and a structural equation model and path analysis to examine the impact of the latent variables of COVID-19 phobia and COVID-19 knowledge, attitudes, and practice as of April 2022. Results: The mean COVID-19 phobia score was 48.13/100, with psychological and social phobia scores higher than in previous studies, while psychosomatic and economic phobia scores were lower than in previous research. Higher psychological phobia significantly increased COVID-19 practices and attitudes. Conversely, higher psychosomatic phobia decreased practices and attitudes. Moreover, higher psychological phobia was significantly associated with disagreement with the policy. Conclusion: The results suggest that efforts to increase South Korean university students' acceptance of easing COVID-19 restrictions should focus on mitigating psychological phobia.

COVID-19 Phobia among Korean, Chinese, and Japanese students: An international comparative study.

This study aimed to identify the characteristic differences and potential contributing factors of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) phobia between undergraduate and graduate students in Korea, Japan, and China. We used the online survey tool, we retained 460 responses from Korea, 248 responses from Japan, and 788 responses from China for analysis. We performed the statistical analysis; ANOVA F-test and Multiple linear regression. We visualized the results of these calculations using GraphPad PRISM 9. The mean COVID-19 phobia score was highest in Japan at 50.5 points. Psychological fear was identically prevalent in Japan and China, at an average of 17.3 points. Psychosomatic fear was highest in Japan at 9.2 points. Further, economic fear was highest in Korea at 13 points, whereas social fear was highest in China at 13.1 points. In Korea, COVID-19 phobia scores were significantly higher among women than in men. In Japan, COVID-19 phobia scores were significantly higher in individuals who complied with social distancing mandates. In China, a lack of previous experience with self-administered testing kits was associated with significantly lower phobia scores. Individuals who were avoiding crowded places had significantly higher scores in 3 countries. This implies that the students knew that it was necessary to comply with COVID-19 preventive behaviors to prevent infections. The findings of this study could be used as a reference when establishing an approach strategy to reduce COVID-19 phobia among Chinese, Japanese, and Korean students.

Global Trends in Social Prescribing: Web-Based Crawling Approach.

BACKGROUND: Social loneliness is a prevalent issue in industrialized countries that can lead to adverse health outcomes, including a 26% increased risk of premature mortality, coronary heart disease, stroke, depression, cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer disease. The United Kingdom has implemented a strategy to address loneliness, including social prescribing-a health care model where physicians prescribe nonpharmacological interventions to tackle social loneliness. However, there is a need for evidence-based plans for global social prescribing dissemination. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to identify global trends in social prescribing from 2018. To this end, we intend to collect and analyze words related to social prescribing worldwide and evaluate various trends of related words by classifying the core areas of social prescribing. METHODS: Google's searchable data were collected to analyze web-based data related to social prescribing. With the help of web crawling, 3796 news items were collected for the 5-year period from 2018 to 2022. Key topics were selected to identify keywords for each major topic related to social prescribing. The topics were grouped into 4 categories, namely Healthy, Program, Governance, and Target, and keywords for each topic were selected thereafter. Text mining was used to determine the importance of words collected from new data. RESULTS: Word clouds were generated for words related to social prescribing, which collected 3796 words from Google News databases, including 128 in 2018, 432 in 2019, 566 in 2020, 748 in 2021, and 1922 in 2022, increasing nearly 15-fold between 2018 and 2022 (5 years). Words such as health, prescribing, and GPs (general practitioners) were the highest in terms of frequency in the list for all the years. Between 2020 and 2021, COVID, gardening, and UK were found to be highly related words. In 2022, NHS (National Health Service) and UK ranked high. This dissertation examines social prescribing-related term frequency and classification (2018-2022) in Healthy, Program, Governance, and Target categories. Key findings include increased "Healthy" terms from 2020, "gardening" prominence in "Program," "community" growth across categories, and "Target" term spikes in 2021. CONCLUSIONS: This study's discussion highlights four key aspects: (1) the "Healthy" category trends emphasize mental health, cancer, and sleep; (2) the "Program" category prioritizes gardening, community, home-schooling, and digital initiatives; (3) "Governance" underscores the significance of community resources in social prescribing implementation; and (4) "Target" focuses on 4 main groups: individuals with long-term conditions, low-level mental health issues, social isolation, or complex social needs impacting well-being. Social prescribing is gaining global acceptance and is becoming a global national policy, as the world is witnessing a sharp rise in the aging population, noncontagious diseases, and mental health problems. A successful and sustainable model of social prescribing can be achieved by introducing social prescribing schemes based on the understanding of roles and the impact of multisectoral partnerships.

Assessing the Fear Factor of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Korea Using the COVID-19 Phobia Scale: A Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: A study on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) phobia among students revealed that fear of contracting COVID-19 was associated with commuting to school and spending time with others at school. Therefore, it is the need-of-the-hour for the Korean government to identify factors affecting COVID-19 phobia among university students and to consider these factors while framing the policy direction for the process of returning to normalcy in university education. Consequently, we aimed to identify the current state of COVID-19 phobia among Korean undergraduate and graduate students and the factors affecting COVID-19 phobia. METHODS: This cross-sectional survey was conducted to identify the factors affecting COVID-19 phobia among Korean undergraduate and graduate students. The survey collected 460 responses from April 5 to April 16, 2022. The questionnaire was developed based on the COVID-19 Phobia Scale (C19P-S). Multiple linear regression was performed on the C19P-S scores using five models with the following dependent variables: Model 1, total C19P-S score; Model 2, psychological subscale score; Model 3, psychosomatic subscale score; Model 4, social subscale score; and Model 5, economic subscale score. The fit of these five models was established, and a P-value of less than 0.05 (F test) was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: An analysis of the factors affecting the total C19P-S score led to the following findings: women significantly outscored men (difference: 4.826 points, P = 0.003); the group that favored the government's COVID-19 mitigation policy scored significantly lower than those who did not favor it (difference: 3.161 points, P = 0.037); the group that avoided crowded places scored significantly higher than the group that did not avoid crowded places (difference: 7.200 points, P < 0.001); and those living with family/friends scored significantly higher than those in other living situations (difference: 4.606 points, P = 0.021). Those in favor of the COVID-19 mitigation policy had significantly lower psychological fear than those who were against it (difference: -1.686 points, P = 0.004). Psychological fear was also significantly higher for those who avoided crowded places compared to those who did not difference: 2.641 points, P < 0.001). Fear was significantly higher in people cohabitating than those living alone (difference: 1.543 points, P = 0.043). CONCLUSION: The Korean government, in their pursuit of a policy that eases COVID-19-related restrictions, will also have to spare no efforts in providing correct information to prevent the escalation of COVID-19 phobia among people with a high fear of contracting the disease. This should be done through trustworthy information sources, such as the media, public agencies, and COVID-19 professionals.

Influencing factor of COVID-19 vaccination trust and hesitancy in Wonju city, South Korea.

Social capital (SC) has been documented to effectively reduce the spread of diseases, including COVID-19; however, research pertaining to SC and COVID-19 vaccination in Korea is lacking. This cross-sectional study conducted in the city of Wonju, Gangwon Province, Korea (n = 1,096) examined the differences in COVID-19 vaccine trust and hesitancy considering individual characteristics and investigated the effects of SC on COVID-19 vaccine trust and hesitancy. SC was measured based on 14 items pertaining to social trust, network, and norms. Responses regarding COVID-19 screening history, vaccine trust, and vaccine hesitancy were also assessed. SC scores did not differ between sexes, but differed significantly according to age and household income; thus, adults aged 70-79 years had the highest SC scores, and mean SC score increased significantly with income. COVID-19 vaccine trust differed significantly according to age, average household income, social organization involvement, and SC score. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy differed significantly with age, SC score, and COVID-19 screening history. In univariate logistic regression, age, average household income, social organization involvement, and SC score were significant predictors of vaccine trust; in multivariable analysis, however, the identified predictors were age and SC. In particular, people with an SC score ≥50 were 2.660 times more likely to trust COVID-19 vaccines than those with lower scores. In multivariable analysis, age and SC were significant predictors of vaccine hesitancy. In particular, people with an SC score ≥50 were 1.400 times more likely not to be hesitant about receiving COVID-19 vaccines than people with lower scores. These results indicate that prioritizing policies to increase SC and trust in the government could boost the COVID-19 vaccination rate.

Effect of a Digital Literacy Program on Older Adults' Digital Social Behavior: A Quasi-Experimental Study.

In South Korea, digital literacy education programs are expected to help its older population participate in online welfare services to increase their social support, self-esteem and well-being. This quasi-experimental study assesses the effects of digital literacy education on digital device usage among rural-dwelling adults aged 65 and above and evaluates the positive effects of digital literacy education on depression, happiness, quality of life, self-efficacy and cognitive function. A digital literacy education program and a customized questionnaire survey were conducted to evaluate smartphone use competency and the program's effects, respectively. We also conducted a chi-square test, paired t-test and difference-in-differences regression analysis. The experimental group showed a significant increase in smartphone usage and video recording capacity than the control group. The happiness and cognitive function scores for dementia screening increased significantly by a mean of 3.7 and 1.1 points, respectively, after digital literacy education. Cognitive function increased significantly by 1.305 points in the experimental group compared to the control group (ß = 1.305, p = 0.05 *). Digital literacy education for older adults in rural areas greatly increased smartphone use, video recording capacity, happiness and cognitive function. Based on these findings, it is recommended that the government should implement digital literacy education for older adults in rural areas to increase their happiness and cognitive function.

Association between traffic inflow and COVID-19 prevalence at the provincial level in South Korea.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the relationship between traffic inflow and COVID-19 prevalence in South Korea for formulating prevention policies for novel infections. METHODS: We evaluated traffic inflow and new COVID-19 cases in 8 regions of Korea from January 1, 2020, to January 31, 2021. The toll collection system (TCS) traffic volume for 2019-2020 and traffic inflow trends were analyzed using independent samples t-test and nonlinear regression, respectively. The association between TCS traffic volume and new COVID-19 cases by city was analyzed using correlation analysis. RESULTS: Traffic inflow volume in 2020 decreased 3.7% from 2019. The TCS traffic inflow trend in the 8 provinces decreased during the first COVID-19 wave, gradually increased until the second wave, decreased after the second wave, and showed a sharp decrease in the third wave. There was a positive correlation between the traffic inflow volume and new cases in Busan-Gyeongnam and Jeonbuk, but not in Daegu-Gyeongbuk or Gangwon. CONCLUSIONS: A decrease in new COVID-19 cases in the regions was associated with increased traffic inflow volume. Therefore, the Korean government can establish preventive social distancing policies by identifying increases or decreases in traffic volume. These policies will also need to consider the distribution of vaccines in each area.

COVID-19 Vaccine Perception in South Korea: Web Crawling Approach.

BACKGROUND: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization emphasized vaccination against COVID-19 because physical distancing proved inadequate to mitigate death, illness, and massive economic loss. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate Korean citizens' perceptions of vaccines by examining their views on COVID-19 vaccines, their positive and negative perceptions of each vaccine, and ways to enhance policies to increase vaccine acceptance. METHODS: This cross-sectional study analyzed posts on NAVER and Instagram to examine Korean citizens' perception of COVID-19 vaccines. The keywords searched were "vaccine," "AstraZeneca," and "Pfizer." In total 8100 posts in NAVER and 5291 posts in Instagram were sampled through web crawling. Morphology analysis was performed, overlapping or meaningless words were removed, sentiment analysis was implemented, and 3 public health professionals reviewed the results. RESULTS: The findings revealed a negative perception of COVID-19 vaccines; of the words crawled, the proportion of negative words for AstraZeneca was 71.0% (476/670) and for Pfizer was 56.3% (498/885). Among words crawled with "vaccine," "good" ranked first, with a frequency of 13.43% (312/2323). Meanwhile, "side effect" ranked highest, with a frequency of 29.2% (163/559) for "AstraZeneca," but 0.6% (4/673) for "Pfizer." With "vaccine," positive words were more frequently used, whereas with "AstraZeneca" and "Pfizer" negative words were prevalent. CONCLUSIONS: There is a negative perception of AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines in Korea, with 1 in 4 people refusing vaccination. To address this, accurate information needs to be shared about vaccines including AstraZeneca, and the experiences of those vaccinated. Furthermore, government communication about risk management is required to increase the AstraZeneca vaccination rate for herd immunity before the vaccine expires.

Which Group Should be Vaccinated First?: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Since the supply of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines will be limited worldwide, it is essential to prioritize vaccination based on scientific evidence. Although several frameworks and studies on vaccine distribution have been published, no published systematic review has evaluated the prioritization of the COVID-19 vaccine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched 4 different databases, PubMed, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and EMBASE for articles published between January 2019 and December 31, 2020. Studies were included if they contained the primary search terms "vaccine", "COVID-19", and "prioritization". In addition, we manually included reports from national and international websites. RESULTS: Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria. In these studies, older adults were the most frequently mentioned group, and healthcare workers (HCWs) were mentioned as the 1st priority group. HCWs and patients with comorbidities were the 2nd and 3rd most frequently mentioned groups in the reviewed papers. Reducing severe COVID-19 was the most frequently mentioned goal. CONCLUSION: Since vaccination programs have been initiated in several countries, scientific evidence on vaccination prioritization is needed to increase our knowledge of general vaccine prioritization and improve vaccine acceptance. Our results showed that HCWs and older adults were the most frequently valued in studies.

Analysis of personal and national factors that influence depression in individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic: a web-based cross-sectional survey.

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus disease (COVID-19) a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Previous studies of infectious diseases showed that infectious diseases not only cause physical damage to infected individuals but also damage to the mental health of the public. Therefore this study aims to analyze the factors that affected depression in the public during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide evidence for COVID-19-related mental health policies and to emphasize the need to prepare for mental health issues related to potential infectious disease outbreaks in the future. RESULTS: This study performed the following statistical analyses to analyze the factors that influence depression in the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. First, to confirm the level of depression in the public in each country, the participants' depression was plotted on a Boxplot graph for analysis. Second, to confirm personal and national factors that influence depression in individuals, a multi-level analysis was conducted. As a result, the median Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) score for all participants was 6. The median was higher than the overall median for the Philippines, Indonesia, and Paraguay, suggesting a higher level of depression. In personal variables, depression was higher in females than in males, and higher in participants who had experienced discrimination due to COVID-19 than those who had not. In contrast, depression was lower in older participants, those with good subjective health, and those who practiced personal hygiene for prevention. In national variables, depression was higher when the Government Response Stringency Index score was higher, when life expectancy was higher, and when social capital was higher. In contrast, depression was lower when literacy rates were higher. CONCLUSIONS: Our study reveals that depression was higher in participants living in countries with higher stringency index scores than in participants living in other countries. Maintaining a high level of vigilance for safety cannot be criticized. However, in the current situation, where coexisting with COVID-19 has become inevitable, inflexible and stringent policies not only increase depression in the public, but may also decrease resilience to COVID-19 and compromise preparations for coexistence with COVID-19. Accordingly, when establishing policies such as social distancing and quarantine, each country should consider the context of their own country.

Determining Public Opinion of the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Korea and Japan: Social Network Mining on Twitter.

OBJECTIVES: This study analyzed the perceptions and emotions of Korean and Japanese citizens regarding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It examined the frequency of words used in Korean and Japanese tweets regarding COVID-19 and the corresponding changes in their interests. METHODS: This cross-sectional study analyzed Twitter posts (Tweets) from February 1, 2020 to April 30, 2020 to determine public opinion of the COVID-19 pandemic in Korea and Japan. We collected data from Twitter (https://twitter.com/), a major social media platform in Korea and Japan. Python 3.7 Library was used for data collection. Data analysis included KR-WordRank and frequency analyses in Korea and Japan, respectively. Heat diagrams, word clouds, and rank flowcharts were also used. RESULTS: Overall, 1,470,673 and 4,195,457 tweets were collected from Korea and Japan, respectively. The word trend in Korea and Japan was analyzed every 5 days. The word cloud analysis revealed "COVID-19", "Shinchonji", "Mask", "Daegu", and "Travel" as frequently used words in Korea. While in Japan, "COVID-19", "Mask", "Test", "Impact", and "China" were identified as high-frequency words. They were divided into four categories: social distancing, prevention, issue, and emotion for the rank flowcharts. Concerning emotion, "Overcome" and "Support" increased from February in Korea, while "Worry" and "Anxiety" decreased in Japan from April 1. CONCLUSIONS: As a result of the trend, people's interests in the economy were high in both countries, indicating their reservations on the economic downturn. Therefore, focusing policies toward economic stability is essential. Although the interest in prevention increased since April in both countries, the general public's relaxation regarding COVID-19 was also observed.

COVID-19 screening center models in South Korea.

In a recent report, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) introduced South Korea's measures to manage COVID-19 as role model for the world. Screening centers serve as frontiers for preventing community transmission of infectious diseases. COVID-19 screening centers in Korea operate 24 h a day, always open for individuals with suspected COVID-19 symptoms. South Korea concentrated COVID-19 screening centers around cities with high population density. Advanced screening centers (models C, D, and E) proved more effective and efficient in the prevention of COVID-19 than the traditional screening centers (models A and B). Particularly, screening centers at Incheon Airport in South Korea prevent transmission through imported cases effectively. It will be important elsewhere, as in South Korea, to establish an infectious disease delivery system that can lead to 'Test-Treat-Track' using an adequate model of screening centers.

COVID-19 Perception, Knowledge, and Preventive Practice: Comparison between South Korea, Ethiopia, and Democratic Republic of Congo.

In Africa, the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was reported in Egypt on February 14, 2020. Since then, the number of cases has continued to increase with Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Sudan, Angola, Tanzania, Ghana, and Kenya identified as vulnerable countries. The present study aimed to: 1) identify differences in trust level of COVID-19 diagnosis, recent healthcare utilization experiences, and COVID-19-related knowledge, information, and prevention practices in South Korea, Ethiopia, and DRC; and 2) identify factors influencing trust level in healthcare facilities regarding COVID-19 diagnosis. The present study was cross-sectional. The questionnaire survey was conducted between May 1-14, 2020 using Google forms, and 748 respondents were included in the final analysis. The data collected were analyzed using ANOVA, post- hoc test, and binary logistic regression analysis. South Korea showed higher rate of practice for COVID-19 prevention such as hand washing, mask wearing, and etc. than Ethiopia and DRC. The results showed significant differences with the trust level being 3.129 times higher in respondents from DRC than those from Ethiopia (aOR=3.129, 95% CI: [1.884-5.196], p <.000) and 29.137 times higher in respondents from South Korean than those from Ethiopia (aOR=29.137, 95% CI: [13.869-61.210], p <.000). Gender, age, number of family members, healthcare utilization experience, information, and practice were significant variables. Health education expansion for information and practice about COVID-19 in Ethiopia and DRC is necessary.

The Relationship between the COVID-19 Prevalence Trend and Transportation Trend in South Korea

Objective World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic on March 12th, 2020. Several studies indicate that these densely populated urban environments and the heavy dependence on traffic could increase the potential spread of COVID-19. This study investigated the association between changes in traffic volume and the spread of COVID-19 in South Korea. Methods This study analyzed the daily national traffic and traffic trend for 3 months from January 1st, 2020. Traffic data was measured by the 6,307 vehicle detection system (VDS). This study analyzed the traffic gap between 2019 and 2020. And non-linear regression was performed to analyze the change in traffic trend in 2020. The relationship between traffic and COVID-19 confirmed cases was analyzed using single linear regression. Results The mean daily nationwide in 2020 was 143,655,563 vehicles, which was 9.7% lower than the same period in 2019 (159,044,566 vehicles). All regions showed a decreasing trend for traffic in February, which shifted to an increasing trend from March. In Incheon, there only was a positive but insignificant (β = 43,146, p = .056) linear relationship with the increasing numbers of new confirmed cases associated with increased traffic. Conclusions New confirmed COVID-19 patients have been decreasing since March, while the traffic has been increasing. Particularly, the fact that traffic is increasing indicates greater contact between people, which in turn increases the risk of COVID-19 spread. Therefore, the government will need to devise suitable policies, such as total social distancing.