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1.
Dismantling Cultural Borders Through Social Media and Digital Communications: How Networked Communities Compromise Identity ; : 283-303, 2022.
Article in English | Scopus | ID: covidwho-2318598

ABSTRACT

This chapter aims to examine the role of social media in building cosmopolitan dispositions of individuals living across borders by comparing the experiences of migrants' communities in London and São Paulo. These two cities represent the contrasts between one global city in the Global North, London, and one in the Global South, São Paulo. Specifically, it exposes how social media enables cosmopolitan dispositions for migrant communities in the two cities. This project investigates dispositions to build cosmopolitanism in London and São Paulo and examines the lives of different migrants communities in these cities. The theoretical discussion on cosmopolitanism, based on cosmopolitan dispositions, refers to the emergence (real or ideal) of a world or universal community that shares values, political institutions, identities, and rights and responsibilities but embraces cultural diversity (Delanty, The cosmopolitan imagination: The renewal of critical social theory. Cambridge University Press, 2009, 2012). Research on cosmopolitan dispositions of individuals explains openness to and appreciation of other cultures, values, and experiences. These characteristics are examined in studies which highlight the following dispositions: a sense of belonging to/identification with a community more significant than the nation-state;trust and tolerance of ethnic minorities, and cultural Others;support for equal rights for immigrants;respect for human rights;an interest in cross-cultural consumption of goods, culture, or media;and support for international governance and the globalization of economies and societies. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022. All rights reserved.

2.
Archives of Design Research ; 36(1):279-296, 2023.
Article in English | Scopus | ID: covidwho-2275640

ABSTRACT

Background Against the problem of declining physical activity among youth after COVID-19, this study has developed a design-led intervention that promotes physical activity using a smartphone service for families with children in upper grades of elementary school. The objective of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of design elements constituting the intervention program via testing the service against a family with children in upper grades of elementary school. Methods Through forming a multidisciplinary team between the Department of Design and the Department of Children and Families, the study developed a strategy to instigate a constructive behavioral change to help family members become more physically active at home. The strategy used information, empowerment, and motivation as a driver of stimuli. A 13-day home user test was conducted to examine its effectiveness and to identify its limitations for future enhancements. Results Through the home user test, it was achievable to confirm an increase in actual physical activity as well as beneficial improvements in the perception of regulating physiological activity into habits. It was observed that motivation was internalized through family-level behavior intervention, parental role modeling through feed-forward information, reinforcing the importance of physical activity in children and adolescents, and experiencing a sense of accomplishment and self-efficacy from achieving their daily goals. Conclusions Based on theoretical considerations for motivation and the maintenance of changed behavior, a service that combines various intervention elements, is presented in this paper. This resulted in an understanding of the theoretical background and anticipated impacts on the future development of such smartphone-based services for tackling social issues such as sedentary behavior. Through this study, both children and their parents would be better equipped to make positive contributions to building a healthy community. © 2023, Archives of Design Research. All rights reserved.

3.
Applied Cognitive Psychology ; : No Pagination Specified, 2022.
Article in English | APA PsycInfo | ID: covidwho-2272000

ABSTRACT

Implementation intentions are self-regulatory strategies that increase the probability that desired goals will be achieved. While their effectiveness in the short term is well established in the literature, the long-term effects are not. The present study, which was conducted in France during the COVID-19 lockdown, aimed to test whether reminders could support the effects of forming implementation intentions over time. It proposed to help people adopt a new behavior: to set themselves three daily goals for four weeks and send the results to a dedicated website. A total of 118 participants (from an initial sample of 194) sent their three daily goals at least once and constituted our final sample. A 2 (implementation intention: with vs. without), x2 (reminders: with vs. without), and x4 (week: 1-4) repeated measures ANOVA was conducted. The results showed significant main effects for all three factors, from small to medium to large. However, no significant interaction emerged. Hence, text message reminders did not seem to intensify the effect of forming implementation intentions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

4.
4th International Conference on Advancements in Computing, ICAC 2022 ; : 228-233, 2022.
Article in English | Scopus | ID: covidwho-2264552

ABSTRACT

In today's world, it is very common among children to use a smartphone or a handheld digital device such as a tablet to entertain themselves and as a medium of socializing with people easily. The COVID-19 pandemic forced many people to stay in their homes and rely on these digital devices to do their day-to-day work and communication. The latter caused the increase in reliance on digital devices to acquire information about the outside world and as a source of entertainment. This new tendency increased the likelihood of children being exposed to pornography, cyberbullying, cyberstalking, excessive gaming, sexting, and behavioral traits related to narcissism. These habits caused many children to develop psychological and physiological illnesses, which affected them in the short term and, for some, which affected them and their families in the long run, such as suicide. Our research proposes to constantly monitor behavioral patterns such as this, notify the relevant individuals, and prevent the children from being prone to such ill fates. According to the findings, using machine learning and natural language processing, sexting, phonographic words, and cyberbullying can all be recognized with pinpoint accuracy. Also, by using two machine learning models, depression and anxiety are detected with an accuracy of 0.84 and 0.86. To prevent and analyze computer vision syndrome caused by improper face-screen distance. An image processing-based algorithm is used to measure the distance from face to screen, and results are narrowed down to an accuracy of 1 inch. © 2022 IEEE.

5.
DEN Open ; 3(1):e180, 2023.
Article in English | PubMed | ID: covidwho-2242257

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: After the confirmation of coronavirus infection in Japan, a behavioral change caused people and physicians to refrain from visiting hospitals or undergoing examinations. This study aimed to assess how the trend of diagnosis in gastric cancers changed, and how it affected the therapeutic strategies and the interval from diagnosis to treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We use 15 cancer-designated hospitals' registries in Hiroshima, Japan. The target period was March to December 2020, and the same period in 2019 was set as the control period. The monthly mean of diagnoses and the interval from diagnosis to treatment were compared overall and separately by age, treatment procedure, diagnostic process, and clinical stage. RESULT: In 2020, the monthly mean (standard deviation [SD]) of patients was 192.2 (29.9), a significant 20.1% decrease from 240.7 (20.7) in 2019 due to older age and curative treatment groups. By reason for performing endoscopy, the change rate in cancer screening, endoscopic follow-up, and symptomatic status were -27.0%, -18.0%, and -17.3%, respectively. Meanwhile, the interval (days) from diagnosis to treatment (SD) was 37.8 (26.5) in 2020, significantly shorter than 46 (31.5) in 2019. CONCLUSION: From 2019 to 2020, we observed a significant decrease in the diagnosis of curable early-stage gastric cancer and treatments, although the interval from diagnosis to treatment decreased. This study suggests that cancer screening played a significant role in the decline in cancer diagnosis that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even under COVID-19 pandemic conditions, there should be an awareness of cancer screening and endoscopic follow-up.

6.
J Nutr ; 153(4): 1052-1062, 2023 04.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2242990

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: One-third of preschool children in Myanmar were stunted in 2015-2016, and three-quarters of children 6-23 mo had inadequate diet diversity. In response, a large-scale nutrition-sensitive social protection program was implemented over 2016-2019. In 2020, however, Myanmar's economy was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and harder still by a military takeover in 2021. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine whether former beneficiaries of this program experienced better food security, food consumption, and diet diversity outcomes in the wake of major economic shocks. METHODS: In a previous cluster-randomized controlled trial conducted over 2016-2019, pregnant women and their children aged <2 y were randomly assigned to either: 1) CASH; 2) CASH + social and behavioral change communication (SBCC); or 3) a control group. Subsamples of these former participants were then resurveyed 10 times from June 2020 to December 2021 during Myanmar's protracted economic crisis. Randomized treatment exposure was used in a regression analysis to test for postprogram impacts on Food Insecurity Experience Scale indicators, household food consumption, and maternal and child diet diversity. We also examined the impacts on household income as a secondary outcome and potential impact pathway. RESULTS: Both intervention arms reported lower food insecurity, more frequent consumption of nutritious foods, and more diverse maternal and child diets compared with households in the control group. However, the improved dietary outcomes were larger for mothers and children exposed to CASH+SBCC compared with CASH, as was their monthly household income. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that a program combining cash transfers with nutrition-related education can yield sustained benefits 1-2 y after the program was completed. This strengthens the evidence to support the expansion and scale-up of nutrition-sensitive social welfare programs to redress chronic malnutrition and enhance nutritional resilience in the face of a severe economic crisis.


Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Economic Recession , Child, Preschool , Humans , Female , Pregnancy , Myanmar , Pandemics , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/prevention & control , Diet , Food Supply , Food Security
7.
J King Saud Univ Sci ; : 102451, 2022 Nov 18.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2245775

ABSTRACT

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the effect of information and motivation on behavioral change related to the COVID-19 pandemic management in Indonesia. It also examines the role of behavioral skills in mediating the information-behavioral change relationship and the motivation-behavioral change relationship. Method: This study employs the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to test the research hypotheses. Using the online survey method to collect data, 845 responses were obtained from several main islands of Indonesia. Results: The results of the study show that information and motivation positively influence people's behavior changes. Behavioral skills mediate the influence of information and motivation on behavioral change. This study contributes to the development of the information-motivation-behavior model (IMB-Model). It also provides additional knowledge on pandemic management in the research setting of Indonesia as a country that has complex characteristics in terms of religion and belief, demography, culture, economy, and politics. Conclusions: This study concludes that the success of Indonesia in dealing with the pandemic greatly depends on the success of changing the community behavior. Providing reliable and consistent information enhances people's motivation to build their behavioral skills. With increased behavioral skills, people have changed their behavior in fighting against COVID-19 by obeying health protocols, participating in vaccination programs, and practicing a healthier lifestyle.

8.
Appetite ; 180: 106313, 2022 Sep 17.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2233062

ABSTRACT

Since COVID-19 outbreak, States adopted different combinations of measures to restrain its spread that affected individual behaviors and the already fragile local and global food systems. The aim of this research is to contribute to the scientific debate around food systems sustainability through the analysis of behavioral shifts in household food waste drivers, specifically occurring during the recent global pandemic. A survey was developed based on an extended version of the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability (MOA) approach. A representative sample of 3000 respondents in Italy and in the Netherlands (1500 per country) completed this survey in May 2020, while lockdown to mitigate the first wave of COVID-19 outbreak was active in both countries. A cluster analysis based on individual food-waste- related behaviors identified four homogenous groups of consumers in the Italian sample and five in the Dutch sample. The comparative analysis of these groups led to the identification of several communalities in behavioral patterns, both within and between the two countries. Results suggest that in both countries, self-reported quantities of household food waste actually decreased, with a stronger reduction reported by Italian consumers. The MOA approach allowed to explain this perceived reduction as largely depending on the increase of opportunity to dedicate more time - to food-related activities as compared to the pre-COVID-19 period, with positive consequences on food management ability. These findings assist in drafting recommendations for tailored interventions to reduce the amount of domestic food waste and preserve positive behaviors emerged during lockdown, that could be continued in the absence of crisis.

9.
J Infect ; 2022 Dec 01.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2231595

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a change in the trend of infections was observed. However, there are few reports comprehensively assessing the impact of the early phase of COVID-19 on the trend of bacteria isolated. METHODS: We extracted the number of positive cultures of hospitalized patients for approximately 200 institutions using the Japanese national database. The outcome was the ratio of 10 species isolated in comparison to the total isolates for each month. Interrupted time-series analyses were conducted between 13 (from Jan-2019 to Jan-2020) and 8 (from May-2020 to Dec-2020) monthly data points. RESULTS: A total of 369,210 isolates were involved. Differences in the level change for Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Streptococcus pyogenes decreased significantly by 0.272 (95% confidence interval [CI]:0.192-0.352), 0.244 (95%CI:0.174-0.314), and 0.324 (95%CI:0.06-0.589), respectively. Bacteria transmitted by contact infection, such as Staphylococcus aureus, did not decrease. Differences in slope change were not significant in all species. CONCLUSIONS: The ratios of isolated bacteria transmitted by droplet infection decreased immediately after the early phase of COVID-19 and maintained the same level. The awareness and behavioral changes toward increased COVID-19 prevention might have a substantial impact on the prevention of bacterial infections, especially droplet infections.

10.
10th E-Health and Bioengineering Conference, EHB 2022 ; 2022.
Article in English | Scopus | ID: covidwho-2223106

ABSTRACT

Vaccines have proved to be effective in reducing mortality of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a part of the population is still reluctant to be vaccinated. Thus, the aim of this work was to apply a framework to create Personas, fictional representations of real people, to assess the characteristics of the population willing to be vaccinated in order to develop personalized eHealth-based interventions to increase compliance to vaccinations. Data was collected through an online survey at the beginning of 2021. Multiple dimensionality reduction methods were used as input for K-Medoids clustering with PAM algorithm to create Personas. The optimal number of Personas and dimensionality reduction method to be used were evaluated through the average silhouette graph and the percentage of statistically different attributes between Personas. From 1070 respondents, three Personas were identified. Persona 3 showed statistically significant lower trust in institutions, lower education and lower willingness of being vaccinated when compared to the other two Personas. The developed approach to create Personas was deemed able to identify the main characteristics of those more prone not willing to be vaccinated, suggesting that behavioral change techniques should focus on taking advantage of the closer social circle of those reluctant to vaccines. © 2022 IEEE.

11.
Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics ; 12(2):348-360, 2022.
Article in English | Scopus | ID: covidwho-2204368

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to investigate the effects of using the mother tongue in delivering audiovisual health protocol messages on health attitudes and behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic. The measurement of the investigation into the variables of gender, age, and education level relied on the use of a 2X2X4 factorial design. Following the design, this study involved 240 volunteer participants randomly selected from 34 provincial clusters in the Indonesian territory. The data on the participants' health attitudes and behaviors were collected through an online questionnaire formulated on five (5) scales. The questionnaire was given to 240 participants as a sample group after receiving health protocol messages conveyed in their mother tongue in a video. The collected data were analyzed by using SPSS and an additional syntax design. The analysis shows that the use of the mother tongue in conveying health protocol messages simultaneously had a significant effect on changes in attitudes and behavior by attending to gender, age, and education levels as contributing factors to the study results. The significant impact on attitude was partially seen from gender and age level factors, while the considerable influence on behavior was seen from gender factors. The other important findings, such as the interaction between factors and the proposed concept of direct persuasive perlocutionary, were also discussed. © 2022, authors, e-ISSN: 2502-6747, p-ISSN: 2301-9468. All Rights Reserved.

12.
Front Psychol ; 13: 1015742, 2022.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2199192

ABSTRACT

Backgrounds: The effectiveness of citizens' behavioral changes to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, such as avoiding large social events, relies on science communication from policymakers and collective action among peer citizens. Extant studies recognize the potential effects of information stimuli on citizens' behavioral changes, including what epidemiological experts request (injunctive information) and what surrounding people behave (descriptive information). Yet, they have insufficiently assessed the co-occurrence and possible interaction of multiple information stimuli. Methods: 1,819 Japanese citizens aged 18 or over were recruited for an experimental survey during March 1-3, 2021 and asked their views on a hypothetical wedding attendance in Japan while being exposed to randomly assigned normative information stimuli. Their willingness to attend a wedding asked before and after the intervention was measured. Infection risk perception was also asked as a mediating variable. Results: Findings suggest the constant supremacy of descriptive information and no synergistic effects in the interaction of multiple information stimuli. We also report that the effects of injunctive and descriptive information vary according to participants' risk perception, age, and trust in experts. Conclusion: Our experimental test enables a systematic assessment of multiple normative information and confirms the primacy of descriptive information as the main driver of behavioral change. Communication by medical experts has limitations but is still effective in specific categories of the population.

13.
Front Psychol ; 13: 976109, 2022.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2089907

ABSTRACT

The global impact of COVID-19 has seriously affected health and livelihood in every country or region, especially in terms of physical consumption behaviors. Hairdressing is an essential physical consumption behavior. To prevent infection, the consumption model for using the beauty industry matchmaking platform (BIMP) has been used during the pandemic. This study investigates the changes in the behavior of media app users in the beauty industry in the post-epidemic era of COVID-19. The COM-B model is the basis for a research framework to study the factors that affect changes in behavior in the areas of Capability, Motivation, and Opportunity of the theoretical framework. A new dimension of fashion sense has expanded the application and validation of the COM-B model to determine the causal relationship between the ability to pursue beauty, motivation, fashion sense, and opportunities by using the platform and the dimension of user behavior. The study finds that fashion sense in the BIMP has a positive and significant impact on beauty care ability, self-motivation to pursue beauty and future cooperation opportunities. The ability, motivation and opportunity to act are all positively significant, which is in agreement with the theoretical framework of the COM-B model. There is no mediating effect for motivation between fashion sense and behavior. The results of this study show that increasing the sense of fashion for members using the BIMP will increases active behavior for members using the platform. This study also proposes practical suggestions for the operation of the BIMP based on the results.

14.
JMIR Public Health Surveill ; 8(11): e40089, 2022 Nov 22.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2065326

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 cases are soaring in Asia. Indonesia, Southeast Asia's most populous country, is now ranked second in the number of cases and deaths in Asia, after India. The compliance toward mask wearing, social distancing, and hand washing needs to be monitored to assess public behavioral changes that can reduce transmission. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate this compliance in Indonesia between October 2020 and May 2021 and demonstrate the use of the Bersatu Lawan COVID-19 (BLC) mobile app in monitoring this compliance. METHODS: Data were collected in real time by the BLC app from reports submitted by personnel of military services, police officers, and behavioral change ambassadors. Subsequently, the data were analyzed automatically by the system managed by the Indonesia National Task Force for the Acceleration of COVID-19 Mitigation. RESULTS: Between October 1, 2020, and May 2, 2021, the BLC app generated more than 165 million reports, with 469 million people monitored and 124,315,568 locations under observation in 514 districts/cities in 34 provinces in Indonesia. This paper grouped them into 4 colored zones, based on the degree of compliance, and analyzed variations among regions and locations. CONCLUSIONS: Compliance rates vary among the 34 provinces and among the districts and cities of those provinces. However, compliance to mask wearing seems slightly higher than social distancing. This finding suggests that policy makers need to promote higher compliance in other measures, including social distancing and hand washing, whose efficacies have been proven to break the chain of transmission when combined with masks wearing.


Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Humans , COVID-19/epidemiology , Pandemics/prevention & control , SARS-CoV-2 , Masks , Indonesia/epidemiology
15.
Applied Cognitive Psychology ; : 1, 2022.
Article in English | Academic Search Complete | ID: covidwho-2059242

ABSTRACT

Implementation intentions are self‐regulatory strategies that increase the probability that desired goals will be achieved. While their effectiveness in the short term is well established in the literature, the long‐term effects are not. The present study, which was conducted in France during the COVID‐19 lockdown, aimed to test whether reminders could support the effects of forming implementation intentions over time. It proposed to help people adopt a new behavior: to set themselves three daily goals for four weeks and send the results to a dedicated website. A total of 118 participants (from an initial sample of 194) sent their three daily goals at least once and constituted our final sample. A 2 (implementation intention: with vs. without), ×2 (reminders: with vs. without), and ×4 (week: 1–4) repeated measures ANOVA was conducted. The results showed significant main effects for all three factors, from small to medium to large. However, no significant interaction emerged. Hence, text message reminders did not seem to intensify the effect of forming implementation intentions. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Applied Cognitive Psychology is the property of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

16.
Sage Open ; 12(3), 2022.
Article in English | ProQuest Central | ID: covidwho-2053817

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 global pandemic eruption has thrown schedules, preferences, and current networks into disarray, creating inherent uncertainty about what lies ahead. This adversity brought on by covid 19 global pandemic created a displacement event in an individual life that can trigger sudden behavioral changes in an individual that would necessitate the search for several opportunities for making ends meet. However, individuals’ responses to the occurrence of any particular event are influenced by their judgments of whether the event is negative or positive, as well as whether the occurrence of that event can be used to generate income. Thus this study is intended to explore how adversity leads to entrepreneurship during covid 19 global pandemic. Specifically, what can inspire individuals to start a new venture in today’s world that has been severely impacted by the covid 19 global pandemic? This study collects survey data from popular cities in China and analyzed the data using a structural equation model to empirically explore what determines entrepreneurial intention to start a new venture during a global pandemic. The findings show that possible feasibility and necessity have a strong influence on entrepreneurial intention in starting a new venture.

17.
1st International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Sustainable Engineering Solution, CISES 2022 ; : 433-439, 2022.
Article in English | Scopus | ID: covidwho-2018634

ABSTRACT

In the last decade, mobile phones have quickly evolved from being a tool of communication to a key agent of social development because of its widespread reach in urban as well as rural areas, especially in the under-served communities. The underserved communities refer to populations which are disadvantaged because of their lack of ability to access care, ability to pay, ability to access comprehensive healthcare, or other disparities for reasons of race, caste, religion, gender, language group or social or economic status. Mobile phone-based information and communication technologies (ICTs) have proven to be significantly beneficial for this section of society and communities - those living in remote and media-dark areas, people who have mostly remained deprived of critical health-related information - by spreading awareness, facilitating interaction and engagement, which in turn leads to adapting of healthy practices, and strengthening a health-seeking behaviour among the target communities. The secondary effect of this change is clearly reflected in economic and social development as well as health indicators of these families. This paper evaluates the efficacy of the mobile phone-based intervention in spreading awareness about maternal and child health, during the time of COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when physical outreach by health workers to contact pregnant women and lactating mothers was significantly hindered due to restrictions in movement and face to face meetings. The digital media outreach mechanisms aided by ICTs proved to be a strong alternative in this scenario, which can be demonstrated by the wide uptake of this service among the target communities. © 2022 IEEE.

18.
Computing Conference, 2022 ; 508 LNNS:143-158, 2022.
Article in English | Scopus | ID: covidwho-1971552

ABSTRACT

Virtual Reality is a powerful simulation tool that has the potential to play a key role in several areas. In this article, we focus on different simulation tools and on different ways of providing negative feedback for persuasive purposes through simulated experiments. The persuasive objective that we consider concerns the persuasion towards the right behavior, we are based on the emotional aspect in order to introduce a fairly high level of anxiety as negative feedback with techniques that we will address in what follows, to fight against the spread of COVID-19, in order to strengthen the safety and health of citizens. In general, this research aims to develop a VR application that aims to change the behavior of citizens and encourage persuasive researchers to explore immersive virtual environments. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

19.
Int J Environ Res Public Health ; 19(14)2022 07 18.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1938811

ABSTRACT

Greenspaces, including parks, provide various socio-ecological benefits such as for aesthetics, temperature remediation, biodiversity conservation, and outdoor recreation. The health benefits of urban greenspaces have received particular attention since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has triggered various movement restrictions and lifestyle changes, including regarding the frequency of people's visits to greenspaces. Using mobile-tracking GPS data of Kanazawa citizens, we explored how citizens' behaviors with respect to outings changed before and during Japan's declaration of a COVID-19 state of emergency (April-May 2020). We also examined citizens' greenspace visits in relation to their travel distance from home. We found that Kanazawa citizens avoided going out during the pandemic, with a decrease in the number, time, and distance of outings. As for the means of transportation, the percentage of outings by foot increased on both weekdays and holidays. While citizens refrained from going out, the percentage change of the percentage in large greenspace visits increased very slightly in 2020. As for greenspace visitation in 2020 compared to 2019, we found that citizens generally visited greenspaces closer to their homes, actually increasing visitation of nearby (within 1000 m) greenspaces. This study of how outing behaviors and greenspace use by Kanazawa citizens have changed underscores the value of nearby greenspaces for physical and mental health during movement restrictions under the pandemic.


Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Biodiversity , COVID-19/epidemiology , Humans , Japan/epidemiology , Pandemics , Parks, Recreational
20.
Digit Health ; 8: 20552076221109059, 2022.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1910214

ABSTRACT

Resilience, a person's mental ability to deal with challenging situations adaptively, is an important life skill. Supporting students in building psychological resilience and coping during crises (with the COVID-19 pandemic being a prime example) is crucial. Very few mobile applications (apps) for mental health explicitly report behavioral change techniques. Moreover, only a handful of the apps that support resilience are gamified, or use smartphone sensors readily available in modern smartphones for health self-management, or were designed for use by a nonclinical population. This study describes the design of a prototype for a gamified, theory-based mobile app that utilizes the Internet of Things to provide personalized data and enhance undergraduate students' resilience. A total of 74 participants evaluated the prototype and completed an online questionnaire during the COVID-19 lockdowns. The questionnaire included questions examining the design's feasibility for supporting resilience and questions on the System Usability Scale evaluating its usability. Regarding the evaluation of the prototype on improving psychological resilience, positive responses (M = 3.76 out of 5, SD = 0.82) were received for all functions (goal setting for studying, socializing and physical exercise, progress monitoring using sensors or self-reporting, reflection, motivational badges). The System Usability Scale returned an evaluation score of 72.9, indicating a satisfactory degree of usability. The resilience app is a promising proof of concept. Combining Internet of Things capabilities with active user interaction while incorporating behavior change techniques in a gamified environment was well accepted by students. Implications for the design of gamified environments for well-being are drawn. Future research will empirically validate its design using quasi-experimental methods.

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