The COVID-19 Pandemic Effect on Customer Tipping Behavior for Online Motorcycle Taxi Service

This research aims to determine whether there is a change in the amount of tip for drivers by customers during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to before the pandemic and to find out the customers' motives in tipping drivers during the COVID 19 pandemic. The research employs a quantitative approach through survey methods. The scale measurement technique uses the Likert scale and Interval scale. The number of respondents in this research are 453 Indonesian who use online motorcycle taxi service application. The data obtained were analyzed using SPSS through descriptive statistical analysis and multiple linear regression. The results show that most of the respondents tipped more amount during the COVID-19 pandemic than the amount of tip they gave before the pandemic. Giving a tip to drivers by customers was driven by several motives/ reasons in the following order: a customer has the nature of wanting to help others without expecting to get rewards (altruism), wants to follow and obey applicable social norms (social norms), wants to give a reward for the satisfaction obtained from good service (reward positively), and wants to maintain social status and increase self-esteem in the social environment (social esteem).

Q&A

Right now, people's knowledge is wrapped up in a lot of noise. [...]this is a conversation that isn't a one-size-fits-all, and requires us to not only combine forces as an industry, but to be consistent in our messaging, and keeping in mind that we need to personalize the conversation with patients in order to stay engaged. The tactics are the last thing;by doing the upfront work and understanding the patient, adding in the evidence, and getting to that conversation blueprint, that allows us to build tactics that are going to have more meaningful effects on the ability to not only motivate a patient to participate, but to maintain that motivation throughout the trial.

How behavioral economics can inform the next mass vaccination campaign: A narrative review.

Designing the next mass vaccination campaign will require ideas and techniques from behavioral economics. History and current events have shown how failing to consider features of human behavior, from individual biases in information processing to the relationships between people and policymakers, frustrated public health efforts. Behavioral economics can inform how a vaccination campaign needs to deliver processes and information necessary to help people decide to vaccinate, especially when mandates to vaccinate are not possible. Such campaigns need to employ both "nudges" (i.e., promote action) and remove "sludge" (i.e., break down blockers) to influence decisions directly. Strategies must be both acute and systemic to the current approach to public health.

A virtual pilot optimization trial for African American/Black and Latino persons with non-suppressed HIV viral load grounded in motivational interviewing and behavioral economics.

Introduction: Virtual and low-touch behavioral interventions are needed for African American/Black and Latino persons living with HIV (PLWH) with barriers to HIV viral suppression, particularly during COVID-19. Guided by the multiphase optimization strategy, we explored three components for PLWH without viral suppression, grounded in motivational interviewing and behavioral economics: (1) motivational interviewing counseling, (2) 21-weeks of automated text messages and quiz questions about HIV management, and (3) financial rewards for viral suppression (lottery prize vs. fixed compensation). Methods: This pilot optimization trial used sequential explanatory mixed methods to explore the components' feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary evidence of effects using an efficient factorial design. The primary outcome was viral suppression. Participants engaged in baseline and two structured follow-up assessments over an 8-month period, and provided laboratory reports to document HIV viral load. A subset engaged in qualitative interviews. We carried out descriptive quantitative analyses. Then, qualitative data were analyzed using directed content analysis. Data integration used the joint display method. Results: Participants (N = 80) were 49 years old, on average (SD = 9), and 75% were assigned male sex at birth. Most (79%) were African American/Black, and the remainder were Latino. Participants were diagnosed with HIV 20 years previously on average (SD = 9). Overall, components were feasible (>80% attended) and acceptability was satisfactory. A total of 39% (26/66) who provided laboratory reports at follow-up evidenced viral suppression. Findings suggested no components were entirely unsuccessful. The lottery prize compared to fixed compensation was the most promising component level. In qualitative analyses, all components were seen as beneficial to individual wellbeing. The lottery prize appeared more interesting and engaging than fixed compensation. However, structural barriers including financial hardship interfered with abilities to reach viral suppression. The integrated analyses yielded areas of convergence and discrepancy and qualitative findings added depth and context to the quantitative results. Conclusions: The virtual and/or low-touch behavioral intervention components tested are acceptable and feasible and show enough potential to warrant refinement and testing in future research, particularly the lottery prize. Results must be interpreted in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Trial registration: NCT04518241 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04518241).

The effect of an information intervention on the career commitment of medical students: evidence from a randomized experiment.

Introduction: The needs-based shortage of healthcare workers is severe worldwide and it would be exacerbated if many medical students switch to other careers after graduation. Maintaining and improving the career commitment of medical students, which could be a feasible, effective, and scalable way to reduce the attrition rate, is essential in medical education. We designed a randomized experiment to test whether an information intervention based on role modeling could enhance medical students' career commitment. Methods: In the randomized experiment, the sample (N = 36,482) was divided into the treatment group (N = 18,070) and the control group (N = 18,412). The intervention information consisted of image-text messages on Zhong Nanshan, who is an inspiring role model for he went to the frontline of COVID-19 in the most critical circumstances and received praise and affirmation from the public. Α difference-in-differences model was employed to identify the effect of the information intervention. Heterogeneous treatment effects were identified using sub-sample analyses. Results: The results showed that the information intervention statistically significantly reduced medical students' dropout intention by 2.7 percentage points (95% CI: -0.037 to -0.016, t = -4.95, p < 0.001), equivalent to 14.6% of the control group mean. This estimate indicates that the information intervention could significantly increase the career commitment of medical students. Finally, male and senior students were influenced more than their female and junior counterparts, which can be explained by their relatively high dropout intention. Conclusion: Role model-based information intervention improves the career commitment of medical students. The underlying behavioral model is that, when students use a role model as their reference point, they consider dropout as a substantial welfare loss. Role modeling is an effective way to improve the career commitment of medical students, especially for males and senior students.

Optimization of investment performance based on personality traits: Acces la Success

To achieve their investment objectives, each investor has a strategy in place. A high amount of personality traits element influenced (perceived) investment performance. The purpose of this research was to test how the Big Five personality qualities affected (perceived) investment performance. The hypotheses were tested using PLS-SEM. Individual stock investors in Indonesia were studied, and the results revealed that openness and neuroticism personality had a negative impact on (perceived) investment performance. Consciousness, extraversion, and agreeableness, on the other hand, all had a positive effect on (perceived) investment performance. This research shows the importance of personality traits when allocating assets to meet investment objectives and improves behavioral finance theory.

End-of-Life Preferences: A Randomized Trial of Framing Comfort Care as Refusal of Treatment in the Context of COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: Rates of advance directive (AD) completion in the United Kingdom are lower than in the United States and other western European countries, which is especially concerning in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. UK residents typically complete an advance decision to refuse care (ADRT), whereas US versions of ADs present a more neutral choice between comfort-oriented or life-prolonging care. The purpose of this study is to test whether this framing affects decision making for end-of-life care and if this is affected by exposure to information about the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: In an online experiment, 801 UK-based respondents were randomly allocated to document their preferences for end-of-life care in a 2 (US AD or UK ADRT) by 2 (presence or absence of COVID-19 prime) between-subjects factorial design. RESULTS: Most (74.8%) of participants across all conditions chose comfort-oriented care. However, framing comfort care as a refusal of treatment made respondents significantly less likely to choose it (65.4% v. 84.1%, P < 0.001). This effect was exacerbated by priming participants to think about COVID-19: those completing an ADRT were significantly more likely to choose life-prolonging care when exposed to the COVID-19 prime (39.8% v. 29.6%, P = 0.032). Subgroup analyses revealed these effects differed by age, with older participants' choices influenced more by COVID-19 while younger participants were more affected by the AD framing. CONCLUSIONS: The UK ADRT significantly reduced the proportion of participants choosing comfort-oriented care, an effect that was heightened in the presence of information about COVID-19. This suggests the current way end-of-life care wishes are documented in the United Kingdom could affect people's choices in a way that does not align with their preferences, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. HIGHLIGHTS: Participants completing an AD framed as an advance decision to refuse treatment were significantly less likely to choose comfort-oriented care than participants completing an AD with a neutral choice between comfort-oriented and life-prolonging care.Exposure to a COVID-19 prime had an interactive effect on documented preferences in the refusal of treatment condition, with these participants even less likely to choose comfort-oriented care.Policy makers and organizations that design templates for advance care planning, particularly in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, should be aware how the framing of these forms can influence decisions.

Finanças comportamentais: comparação do nível de aversão ao risco financeiro entre profissionais da área da saúde

As Finanças Comportamentais são consideradas a nova era das finanças. Amparado em seus pressupostos, este trabalho teve o objetivo de detectar e comparar os níveis de aversão a risco em decisões financeiras de dois grupos de profissionais da saúde: um composto por aqueles expostos a situações de urgência (linha de frente no atendimento aos doentes da Covid-19) e outro composto por aqueles que atuam em situações hospitalares convencionais não-urgentes. Com a aplicação de um questionário a profissionais de ambos os grupos, foram obtidas respostas que possibilitaram testar a hipótese de que o trabalho em situações de urgência gera uma influência diferente no sentimento de aversão ao risco, do que os trabalhos hospitalares convencionais não-urgentes. Os resultados da análise estatística e do teste Qui-Quadrado revelaram que há uma pequena diferença de aversão ao risco entre os profissionais de ambos os grupos, sem apresentar, contudo, significância estatística. Os resultados revelaram ainda indícios de que os profissionais que atuam/atuaram na linha de frente contra a Covid19, em situações de ganho, aceitaram assumir maiores riscos, visando maior recompensa financeira. Já em situações que envolviam perdas, estes mesmos profissionais mostraram-se mais avessos ao risco, do que aqueles do outro grupo.Alternate :Behavioral Finance is considered the new era of finance. Supported by its assumptions, this work aimed to detect and compare the levels of risk aversion in financial decisions of two groups of health professionals: one composed of those exposed to emergency situations (front line in the care of Covid-19 patients) and the other composed of those who work in non-urgent conventional hospital situations. With the application of a questionnaire to professionals from both groups, responses were obtained that made it possible to test the hypothesis that work in emergency situations generates a different influence on the feeling of risk aversion than conventional non-urgent hospital work. The results of the statistical analysis and the chisquare test revealed that there is a small difference in risk aversion between professionals in both groups, without showing, however, statistical significance. The results also revealed evidence that professionals who act/acted on the frontline against Covid19, in situations of gain, accepted to take greater risks, aiming at greater financial reward. The results also revealed evidence that professionals who act/acted on the frontline against Covid19, in situations of gain, accepted to take greater risks, aiming at greater financial reward. In situations involving losses, these same professionals were more risk averse than those in the other group.

Efeito disposição: Comportamento do investidor brasileiro em tempos de pandemia

Este trabalho investiga a presença do efeito disposição em investidores brasileiros no ano de 2020. A base de dados compreende 274 investidores distintos que, em conjunto, realizaram mais de 12 mil transações. Aplicase a metodologia utilizada por Odean (1998). A partir das carteiras de investimento de cada indivíduo, estima-se a proporção de ganhos e de perdas realizadas e testa-se a hipótese de igualdade dessas proporções. O estudo identificou que os investidores brasileiros estão propícios à influência dessa anomalia comportamental nas suas decisões, ou seja, vendem seus investimentos com ganhos mais rapidamente e mantêm seus investimentos perdedores por mais tempo e que uma posição com lucro possui mais chance de ser vendida do que uma posição com prejuízo. Os resultados não indicam efeito disposição no mês de março, e isso sugere que, em momentos de maior incerteza, investidores buscam limitar perdas, independentemente do lucro ou prejuízo auferido com o ativo.Alternate :This study investigates the disposition effect with regard to Brazilian investors, with focus on the year 2020. The database is composed by more than 12,000 trades by 274 investors. We follow the method of Odean (1998) to estimate the proportions of gains and losses realized and test the null hypothesis of equality of these proportions in each portfolio. The results suggest that Brazilian investors behave in line with the disposition effect. They sell winning stocks too early and hold losing stocks too long. A stock that is gaining value is more likely to be sold from day to day compared to a stock that is losing value. The disposition effect was not found in March, which suggests that investors employed a loss-limit during periods of market stress, no matter if the stock went up or down.

Tenants Who Delayed Rent Payments During 2020–2021 Eviction Moratoria: Spending Patterns and Associations with Psychiatric Characteristics

This study examined spending behaviors of U.S. tenants who reported delaying rent payments during federal eviction moratoria in 2020-2021, enacted in response to the Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. A national sample of 772 middle and low-income tenants who reported delaying rent payments because of the eviction moratoria were assessed from May 2020 to October 2020. Among tenants who delayed paying rent, most rent money was spent on groceries (11-19%), utilities (9-14%), substance use (8-10%), and debt (7%) across two time periods;the remaining rent money was spent on other expenses including recreation and medical care. Sociodemographic and psychiatric characteristics together only explained 2-3% of the variance in spending in major expense categories suggesting the broad impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, these findings provide insight into spending behaviors of tenants during a time of great financial and psychological distress. © This work was authored as part of the Contributor's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 USC. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under US Law.

Physician behavior and low-value care

Inappropriate prescribing and overprescribing are examples of low- or no-value care that result in high costs with little to no clinical benefit and patient harms. Suboptimal prescribing is the result of suboptimal physician decision-making. Physician behavior is influenced by intrinsic and extrinsic factors, such as reimbursement models, patient demand, diagnostic uncertainty, and poor numeracy. When faced with numerous diagnostic and treatment decisions per day, physicians rely on mental shortcut, or "heuristics", that unconsciously alter their perception of the risks and benefits of a treatment. While overtreatment or inappropriate prescribing occurs in many conditions, this dissertation concentrates on opioids, COVID-19 treatments, and benzodiazepines. The three aims of this dissertation include: (1) the downstream harms of opioid overprescribing during COVID-19;(2) the impact of setting on physician behavior in treating COVID-19 outpatients and associated outcomes;and (3) the effectiveness of a behavioral economic intervention on inappropriate benzodiazepine prescribing. We primarily address these aims using LA County Department of the Medical Examiner-Coroner autopsy reports, California Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System data, and claims data (Optum's de-identified Clinformatics Data Mart Database (2007-2020)). We identify community- and decedent-level characteristics associated with opioid-related deaths following the implementation of stay-at-home orders in Los Angeles County. We estimate if the likelihood of initial provider interventions for COVID-19, including inappropriate prescribing, differs by appointment setting (i.e., urgent care center versus dedicated telehealth company) and if inappropriate prescribing for COVID-19 is associated with adverse outcomes (i.e., hospitalizations and mortality). Lastly, we measure the effect of a behavioral economic intervention in reducing benzodiazepine prescribing in a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Avoiding the Worst Decisions: A Simulation and Experiment

Many practical decisions are more realistic concerning preventing bad decisions than seeking better ones. However, there has been no behavioral decision theory research on avoiding the worst decisions. This study is the first behavioral decision research on decision strategies from the perspective of avoiding the worst decisions. We conducted a computer simulation with the Mersenne Twister method and a psychological experiment using the monitoring information acquisition method for two-stage decision strategies of all combinations for different decision strategies: lexicographic, lexicographic semi-order, elimination by aspect, conjunctive, disjunctive, weighted additive, equally weighted additive, additive difference, and a majority of confirming dimensions. The rate of choosing the least expected utility value among the alternatives was computed as the rate of choosing the worst alternative in each condition. The results suggest that attention-based decision rules such as disjunctive strategy lead to a worse decision, and that striving to make the best choice can conversely often lead to the worst outcome. From the simulation and the experiment, we concluded that simple decision strategies such as considering what is most important can lead to avoiding the worst decisions. The findings of this study provide practical implications for decision support in emergency situations.

Studies in behavioral economics

Is an option especially tempting when it is both immediate and certain? To study the effect of risk on present bias, my first chapter presents an online experiment in which workers allocate about thirty minutes of real-effort tasks between two weeks. I compare choices made two days before the first workday against choices made when work is imminent. In baseline treatments, one choice is randomly implemented;meanwhile, one treatment implements a particular allocation with certainty. By assuming that effort costs are not affected by the mechanism (and thus independent of risk preferences), my novel design permits estimation of present bias using a decision with a consequence both immediate and certain. I find the average intensity of present bias is far greater under certainty than under risk. I find no evidence that present bias is more pervasive among individuals, suggesting instead that present-biased individuals become more myopic.COVID-19 vaccination has both private and public benefits. The second chapter, co-authored with Gary Charness and David Levine, asks whether social preferences-concerns for the well-being of other people-influence one's decision regarding vaccination. We measure these social preferences for 549 online subjects: We give each subject $4 to play a public-goods game and make contributions to public welfare. To the extent that one gets vaccinated out of concern for the health of others, contribution in this game is analogous to an individual's decision to obtain COVID-19 vaccination. We collect COVID-19 vaccination history separately to avoid experimenter-demand effects. We find a strong result: Contribution in the public-goods game is associated with greater demand to voluntarily receive a first dose, and thus also to vaccinate earlier. Compared to a subject who contributes nothing, one who contributes the maximum ($4) is 48% more likely to obtain a first dose voluntarily in the four-month period that we study (April through August 2021). People who are more pro-social are indeed more likely to take a voluntary COVID-19 vaccination.Widespread vaccination is certainly a critical element in successfully fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The third chapter, co-authored with Gary Charness and David Levine, applies theories of social identity to design targeted messaging to reduce vaccine hesitancy among groups with low vaccine uptake, such as African Americans and political conservatives. We conducted an online experiment from April 7th to 27th, 2021, that oversampled Black, Latinx, conservative, and religious U.S. residents. We first solicited the vaccination status of over 10,000 individuals. Of the 4,609 individuals who reported being unvaccinated, 4,190 enrolled in our covariate-adaptive randomized trial. We provided participants messages that presented the health risks of COVID-19 to oneself and others;they also received messages about the benefits of a COVID-19 vaccine and an endorsement by a celebrity. Messages were randomly tailored to each participant's identities-Black, Latinx, conservative, religious, or being a parent. Respondents reported their intent to obtain the vaccine for oneself and, if a parent, for one's child. We report results for the 2,621 unvaccinated respondents who passed an incentivized manipulation check. We find no support for the hypothesis that customized messages or endorsers reduce vaccine hesitancy among our segments. A post hoc analysis finds evidence that a vaccine endorsement from Dr. Fauci reduces stated intent to vaccinate among conservatives. We find no evidence that tailoring public-health communication regarding COVID-19 vaccination for broad demographic groups would increase its effectiveness. We recommend further research on communicators and endorsers, as well as incentives. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Hyperbolic modeling and assessment of hypothetical health behaviors during a viral outbreak using crowdsourced samples.

The COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to investigate factors related to public response to public health measures, which could help better prepare implementation of similar measures for inevitable future pandemics. To understand individual and environmental factors that influence likelihood in engaging in personal and public health measures, three crowdsourced convenience samples from Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) completed likelihood-discounting tasks of engaging in health behaviors given a variety of hypothetical viral outbreak scenarios. Experiment 1 assessed likelihood of mask wearing for a novel virus. Experiment 2 assessed vaccination likelihood based on efficacy and cost. Experiment 3 assessed likelihood of seeking health care based on number of symptoms and cost of treatment. Volume-based measures and three-dimensional modeling were used to analyze hypothetical decision making. Hypothetical public and personal health participation increased as viral fatality increased and generally followed a hyperbolic function. Public health participation was moderated by political orientation and trust in science, whereas treatment-seeking was only moderated by income. Analytic methods used in this cross-sectional study predicted population-level outcomes that occurred later in the pandemic and can be extended to various health behaviors.

Information, partisanship, and preferences in a pandemic.

We investigate the role of information exposure in shaping attitudes and behaviors related to the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic and whether baseline political affiliation and news diet mediate effects. In December 2020, we randomly assigned 5,009 U.S. adults to nine brief text-based segments related to the dynamics of the pandemic and the safety of various behaviors, estimating the effects on 15 binary outcomes related to COVID-19 policy preferences, expected consumer behavior, and beliefs about safety. Average effects reach significance (95% CI) in 47 out of 120 models and equal 7.4 ppt. The baseline effects are large for all outcomes except beliefs. By contrast, interaction effects by political party and media diet are significant for beliefs but rarely significant for policy and behavioral attitudes. These findings suggest partisan policy and behavioral gaps are driven, at least in part, by exposure to different information and that equalizing information sources would lead to partisan convergence in beliefs.

Evaluation of behavioral economic strategies to raise influenza vaccination rates across a health system: Results from a randomized clinical trial.

Influenza vaccination rates are low. Working with a large US health system, we evaluated three health system-wide interventions using the electronic health record's patient portal to improve influenza vaccination rates. We performed a two-arm RCT with a nested factorial design within the treatment arm, randomizing patients to usual-care control (no portal interventions) or to one or more portal interventions. We included all patients within this health system during the 2020-2021 influenza vaccination season, which overlapped with the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the patient portal, we simultaneously tested: pre-commitment messages (sent September 2020, asking patients to commit to a vaccination); monthly portal reminders (October - December 2020), direct appointment scheduling (patients could self-schedule influenza vaccination at multiple sites); and pre-appointment reminder messages (sent before scheduled primary care appointments, reminding patients about influenza vaccination). The main outcome measure was receipt of influenza vaccine (10/01/2020-03/31/2021). We randomized 213,773 patients (196,070 adults ≥18 years, 17,703 children). Influenza vaccination rates overall were low (39.0%). Vaccination rates for study arms did not differ: Control (38.9%), pre-commitment vs no pre-commitment (39.2%/38.9%), direct appointment scheduling yes/no (39.1%/39.1%), pre-appointment reminders yes/no (39.1%/39.1%); p > 0.017 for all comparisons (p value cut-off adjusted for multiple comparisons). After adjusting for age, gender, insurance, race, ethnicity, and prior influenza vaccination, none of the interventions increased vaccination rates. We conclude that patient portal interventions to remind patients to receive influenza vaccine during the COVID-19 pandemic did not raise influenza immunization rates. More intensive or tailored interventions are needed beyond portal innovations to increase influenza vaccination.

Altruism and the Link to Pro-social Pandemic Behavior.

In the Corona pandemic, especially in the phase before vaccines were available, people's risk of infection with COVID-19 was dependent on the adherence to pandemic behaviors (e. g., wearing masks) of others around them. To explore whether altruistic individuals are more likely to engage in pro-social behaviors to protect others during the pandemic, we use data from the European COVID Survey (ECOS). The data was collected in September 2020 and consisted of a representative sample from seven European countries (N = 7,025). Altruism was measured as a deviation from purely self-interested behavior by asking respondents how much they would be willing to donate from an unexpected gain to the equivalent of 1000€. Respondents who were willing to donate more than 0 Euros (68.7%) were treated as altruistic; on average, respondents were willing to donate 11.7% (SD 17.9) of the gain. Controlling for country, sociodemographics, general risk aversion and COVID-specific risk aversion, we find that individuals classified as altruistic were more likely to behave pro-socially. More specifically, we find that altruistic respondents were more likely to wait at home for test results and wear a mask where it is recommended. They would also stay about 1 day longer under quarantine without symptoms after visiting a high-risk country and were less likely to go to a supermarket with COVID symptoms. We find no significant effect for wearing a mask in places where it is mandatory and for inviting more than six people into the house. Furthermore, we find that the subjective risk assessment of COVID-19 also plays a role in these behaviors. Our results support evidence from the literature that suggests that adherence to pro-social pandemic behaviors may be increased if public health officials emphasize the altruistic nature of these behaviors.

Barriers and facilitators of antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence habit formation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from a qualitative study in Kampala, Uganda.

RATIONALE: In 2020, nearly 40 million people lived with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) worldwide, of whom 70% were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART). Two-thirds of PLWHA reside in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where rates of viral load suppression are often suboptimal and frequently attributed to low ART adherence. Strong pill-taking habits are often reported as a key strategy among those who successfully maintain medication adherence, yet not enough is known about the barriers and facilitators in SSA to pill-taking in response to the same contextual cue, which is a necessary step in the habit formation process. OBJECTIVE: To address this knowledge gap and to inform a subsequent intervention to promote context-dependent repetition, called anchoring, we used a formative qualitative approach to collect in-depth narratives about barriers and facilitators of the anchoring intervention for establishing ART pill-taking habits at the Mildmay Hospital in Kampala, Uganda. METHODS: We conducted interviews with 25 randomly selected patients starting ART, 5 expert patients, and 10 providers at Mildmay, and performed a rapid analysis to inform the intervention in a timely manner. RESULTS: We found that pill taking in response to the same contextual cue, or anchor, was threatened by stigma and food insecurity and that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these barriers. We also determined that important linguistic changes were needed to the instructional materials and reminder messages in the subsequent intervention to avoid words and phrases with negative connotations for this target population. CONCLUSIONS: Several important barriers and facilitators to context-dependent pill taking in Uganda were identified through our formative research that helped to inform important revisions to our subsequent intervention. These findings underscore the importance of understanding local barriers and facilitators when designing and planning interventions, particularly when implementing theory-based intervention approaches that have yet to be tested in a new setting.

Vaccination Against COVID-19: Human Behavior and Public Policy Analyzed from Behavioral Economics.

Society is facing a global pandemic, causing millions of deaths and hundreds of millions of infections. The importance of vaccination to face COVID-19 is decisive in the fight against the virus. However, many people have decided not to get vaccinated, ruining public health policy. The objective of this article is to apply knowledge about behavioral economics in the explanation of the behavior of those who decide not to be vaccinated, as well as the use of decision architecture and nudges for the design of behavioral interventions. The methodology used was qualitative, supported by bibliographic search and content analysis, with theoretical methods such as historical-logical analysis and deductive and hypothetical analysis. Behavioral economics has been used to modify behaviors associated with chronic non communicable diseases, so it can provide a solution to increase the number of people who are inoculated against the virus. The perception of risk and uncertainty, the amount of information and social pressure are identified as factors that influence the decision, as well as various heuristics and cognitive biases. The design of behavioral interventions should employ nudges in the decision architecture, starting from the "simple, attractive, social and timely" methodology as an opportunity to increase the number of people who are vaccinated. Copyright © 2022, Editorial Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.

Online Trade of Clothes in the Context of the Green Economy

Over the last fifteen years, the concept of the „green economy” has started to be given increasing importance not only in academia, but also in the implementation of various public policies, as a result of the need to respect sustainable development. Given the increased importance of respecting the environment in the current context, this article aims to highlight the impact of online trade in clothing sector on the consumer in terms of sustainability. Through an opinion poll, young people's perception of the impact of online clothes trade in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic was investigated, reaching the conclusion that the pandemic led to a change in behavioral trends with regard to the acquisition of clothing.