Communication media as mediators of telework frequency and knowledge sharing in Japan under COVID-19

This paper examines how telework frequency has affected the usage of major communication media, and subsequently knowledge sharing, among a large sample of full-time Japanese employees with no prior telework experience during the country's fourth COVID-19 state of emergency. Results suggest that mandatory telework resulted in lower use of face-to-face meetings and phone calls;in higher use of instant messaging and virtual meetings, and that it had no effect on e-mail use. Moreover, phone call, instant messaging, and virtual meeting frequencies were found to mediate the relationship between telework frequency and knowledge sharing. These findings highlight the importance of both existing and newer communication media in offsetting the loss of face-to-face meeting opportunities. Government-mandated telework may have accelerated the adoption of new communication tools such as instant messaging and virtual meeting, which had not yet gained full acceptance before the pandemic.

A Comparative Analysis of IoT Protocols for Resource Constraint Devices and Networks

Communication standards and protocols are detrimental to the success of any Internet of Things (IoT) system or application. Selecting a communication standard and a suitable middleware or messaging protocol for IoT connectivity is challenging due to the heterogeneous resource-constrained IoT devices and their messaging requirements. Recently, several messaging/middleware protocols in the IoT field were developed and adopted in the industry. However, to date, there is no specific messaging protocol that can support all messaging use cases and fulfil the overall requirements of IoT systems. Therefore, it is critical to understand the application layer messaging and communication protocols of IoT systems to identify the most appropriate protocol that could fit and be applied in various contexts. This paper provides a comparative analysis of the MQTT, CoAP, and AMQP messaging protocols including their security. © 2022 ACM.

Patient Experience of Using Telehealth Services during COVID-19 in Dubai Health Authority: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Electronic Survey

Objectives: To examine patients' telehealth usability during COVID-19 in Dubai. Method(s): A cross-sectional retrospective study adopted Telehealth Usability Questionnaire (TUQ). A total of 64,173 participants who used telehealth services during 2020 - 2021 were recruited from the electronic medical record to participate in electronic survey from October to December 2022. The survey was administered through DHA text messaging system. The survey examined participants' characteristics and the six domains of TUQ with a Likert scale. Frequency, percentage, and weighted mean score percentages were used as descriptive statistics to analyze this data. Result(s): A total of 1,535 participants completed the survey. The overall TUQ showed the mean age of users was 43.37 years (+/-11.67 SD). More than half of the users were females (65.21%), the majority were married (74.46%), of a UAE nationality (83.58%), had higher education (56.68%), and were currently working (57.13%). Consultations and COVID-19-related concerns (45.14%), medication refills (19.80%), and laboratory tests (18.24%) were the main reasons for telehealth visits. Weighted means of TUQ six domains were usefulness (87.11%), ease of use and learnability (86.98%), interface quality (85.73%), interaction quality (86.44%), reliability (79.48%), and satisfaction and future use (86.44%). Conclusion(s): Our study revealed high levels of usability and willingness to use telehealth services as an alternative modality to in-person consultations among the participants of the survey. Our results support the implementation of telehealth services in DHA;however, further studies are required to understand the applicability of telehealth after COVID-19 and how to further improve satisfaction.Copyright © 2023

Examining the Public Messaging on 'Loneliness' over Social Media: An Unsupervised Machine Learning Analysis of Twitter Posts over the Past Decade.

Loneliness is an issue of public health significance. Longitudinal studies indicate that feelings of loneliness are prevalent and were exacerbated by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. With the advent of new media, more people are turning to social media platforms such as Twitter and Reddit as well as online forums, e.g., loneliness forums, to seek advice and solace regarding their health and well-being. The present study therefore aimed to investigate the public messaging on loneliness via an unsupervised machine learning analysis of posts made by organisations on Twitter. We specifically examined tweets put out by organisations (companies, agencies or common interest groups) as the public may view them as more credible information as opposed to individual opinions. A total of 68,345 unique tweets in English were posted by organisations on Twitter from 1 January 2012 to 1 September 2022. These tweets were extracted and analysed using unsupervised machine learning approaches. BERTopic, a topic modelling technique that leverages state-of-the-art natural language processing, was applied to generate interpretable topics around the public messaging of loneliness and highlight the key words in the topic descriptions. The topics and topic labels were then reviewed independently by all study investigators for thematic analysis. Four key themes were uncovered, namely, the experience of loneliness, people who experience loneliness, what exacerbates loneliness and what could alleviate loneliness. Notably, a significant proportion of the tweets centred on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on loneliness. While current online interactions are largely descriptive of the complex and multifaceted problem of loneliness, more targeted prosocial messaging appears to be lacking to combat the causes of loneliness brought up in public messaging.

Work in Progress: Benefits of Learning Engineering Sciences to Transition from Face-to-Face to Virtual Learning of Engineering, Technology, and Computing due to COVID-19

For equatorial African countries such as Rwanda the power grid in some regions is either absent or highly unreliable even though these locations are blessed with reliable solar radiation most of the time. Designing and implementing solar power systems capable of supporting micro-computer systems such as Raspberry Pi devices that can be used in educational environments is a way to overcome grid challenges while at the same time imparting valuable lessons covering Engineering, Technology, and Computing. Using Learning Engineering Sciences best practices effectively mitigates how COVID-19 that has required standard face-to-face project and learning strategies to transition to virtual or hybrid strategies that utilize Open Educational Resources (OER). These strategies include video conferencing, file sharing platforms, and messaging applications to generate learning activities, create courses to construct the learning program for training teachers in the use of OER and Raspberry Pi desktop devices. © 2023 IEEE.

BHIVA Spring Conference 2023

The proceedings contain 159 papers. The topics discussed include: microelimination of hepatitis C among people living with diagnosed HIV in England;laboratory implementation of emergency department blood-borne virus (EDBBV) opt-out screening in a London tertiary center;a review of sexual health and blood-borne virus care provided to inmates at admission into UK prisons and secure facilities;implementation of routine opt-out blood-borne virus (BBV) screening in 34 emergency departments (EDs) in areas of extremely high HIV prevalence in England;impact and experiences of offering HIV testing across the whole city population through primary care clusters and GP surgeries in the texting 4 Testing (T4T) project;'Not PrEPared': barriers to accessing PrEP in England;HIV care during the SARS-COV-2 pandemic for Black people with HIV in the UK;clinical presentation of mpox in people with and without HIV;and 'if you don't know, how can you know?': a qualitative investigation of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis knowledge and perceptions among women in England.

Comprehensive medication management services provided via telehealth or hybrid models: A scoping review

Comprehensive medication management (CMM) is increasingly provided by health care teams through telehealth or hybrid modalities. The purpose of this scoping literature review was to assess the published literature and examine the economic, clinical, and humanistic outcomes of CMM services provided by pharmacists via telehealth or hybrid modalities. This scoping review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis extension for Scoping Reviews. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies were included if they: reported on economic, clinical, or humanistic outcomes;were conducted via telehealth or hybrid modalities;included a pharmacist on their interprofessional team;and evaluated CMM services. The search was conducted between January 1, 2000, and September 28, 2021. The search strategy was adapted for use in Medline (PubMed);Embase;Cochrane;Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature;PsychINFO;International Pharmaceutical s;Scopus;and grey literature. Four reviewers extracted data using a screening tool developed for this study and reviewed for risk of bias. Authors screened 3500 articles, from which 11 studies met the inclusion criteria (9 observational studies, 2 RCTs). In seven studies, clinical outcomes improved with telehealth CMM interventions compared to either usual care, face-to-face CMM, or educational controls, as shown by the statistically significant changes in chronic disease clinical outcomes. Two studies evaluated and found increased patient and provider satisfaction. One study described a source of revenue for a telehealth CMM service. Overall, study results indicate that telehealth CMM services, in select cases, may be associated with improved clinical outcomes, but the methods of the included studies were not homogenous enough to conclude that telehealth or hybrid modalities were superior to in-person CMM. To understand the full impact on the Quadruple Aim, additional research is needed to investigate the financial outcomes of CMM conducted using telehealth or hybrid technologies.Copyright © 2022 Pharmacotherapy Publications, Inc.

Digital Communications in Urology During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Communication trends between patients and healthcare professionals have evolved over the last decade and most notably during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Digital technology such as email, smartphones, text messaging, and social media have transformed communication in the healthcare setting. This chapter will highlight how digital technology is changing the way urologists communicate with patients and colleagues as well as provide guidance on how to avoid some of the pitfalls associated with this form of communication. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

How to reduce vaccination hesitancy? The relevance of evidence and its communicator.

Even though the immediate urgency of the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have passed, many countries did not reach the vaccination rates they initially aimed for. The stagnation in vaccine uptake during the height of the pandemic presented policy makers with a challenge that remains unresolved and is paramount for future pandemics and other crises: How to convince the (often not insubstantial) unvaccinated proportion of the population of the benefits of a vaccination? Designing more successful communication strategies, both in retrospect and looking ahead, requires a differentiated understanding of the concerns of those that remain unvaccinated. Guided by the elaboration likelihood model, this paper has two objectives: First, it explores by means of a latent class analysis how unvaccinated individuals might be characterized by their attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination. Second, we investigate to what extent (i) varying types of evidence (none/anecdotal/statistical) can be employed by (ii) different types of communicators (scientists/politicians) to improve vaccination intentions across these subgroups. To address these questions, we conducted an original online survey experiment among 2145 unvaccinated respondents from Germany where a substantial population share remains unvaccinated. The results suggest three different subgroups, which differ regarding their openness towards a COVID-19 vaccination: Vaccination opponents (N = 1184), sceptics (N = 572) and those in principle receptive (N = 389) to be vaccinated. On average, neither the provision of statistical nor anecdotal evidence increased the persuasiveness of information regarding the efficacy of a COVID-19 vaccine. However, scientists were, on average, more persuasive than politicians (relatively increase vaccination intentions by 0.184 standard deviations). With respect to heterogeneous treatment effects among the three subgroups, vaccination opponents seem largely unreachable, while sceptics value information by scientists, particularly if supported by anecdotal evidence (relatively increases intentions by 0.45 standard deviations). Receptives seem much more responsive to statistical evidence from politicians (relatively increases intentions by 0.38 standard deviations).

Effect of telehealth-based versus in-person nutritional and exercise intervention on type II diabetes mellitus improvement and efficiency of human resources utilization in patients with obesity

Aims: Telehealth became a patient necessity during the COVID pandemic and evolved into a patient preference in the post-COVID era. This study compared the % total body weight loss (%TBWL), HbA1c reduction, and resource utilization among patients with obesity and diabetes who participated in lifestyle interventions with or without telehealth. Method(s): A total of 150 patients with obesity and diabetes who were followed every 4-6 weeks either in-person (n = 83) or via telehealth (n = 67), were included. All patients were provided with an individualized nutritional plan that included a weight-based daily protein intake from protein supplements and food, an activity/sleep schedule-based meal times, and an aerobic exercise goal of a 2000-calorie burn/week, customized to patient's preferences, physical abilities, and comorbidities. The goal was to lose 10%TBWL. Telehealth-based follow-up required transmission via texting of weekly body composition measurements and any blood glucose levels below 100 mg/dl for medication adjustments. Weight, BMI, %TBWL, HbA1c (%), and medication effect score (MES) were compared. Patient no-show rates, number of visits, program duration, and drop-out rate were used to assess resource utilization based on cumulative staff and provider time spent (CSPTS), provider lost time (PLT) and patient spent time (PST). Result(s): Mean age was 47.2 +/- 10.6 years and 74.6% were women. Mean Body Mass Index (BMI) decreased from 44.1 +/- 7.7-39.7 +/- 6.7 kg/m2 (p < 0.0001). Mean program duration was 189.4 +/- 169.3 days. An HbA1c% unit decline of 1.3 +/- 1.5 was achieved with a 10.1 +/- 5.1%TBWL. Diabetes was cured in 16% (24/150) of patients. %TBWL was similar in regards to telehealth or in-person appointments (10.6% +/- 5.1 vs. 9.6% +/- 4.9, p = 0.14). Age, initial BMI, MES, %TBWL, and baseline HbA1c had a significant independent effect on HbA1c reduction (p < 0.0001). Program duration was longer for in-person follow-up (213.8 +/- 194 vs. 159.3 +/- 127, p = 0.019). The mean annual telehealth and in-person no-show rates were 2.7% and 11.2%, respectively (p < 0.0001). Mean number of visits (5.7 +/- 3.0 vs. 8.6 +/- 5.1) and drop-out rates (16.49% vs. 25.83%) were lower in telehealth group (p < 0.0001). The CSPTS (440.4 +/- 267.5 min vs. 200.6 +/- 110.8 min), PLT (28.9 +/- 17.5 min vs. 3.1 +/- 1.6 min), and PST (1033 +/- 628 min vs. 113.7 +/- 61.4 min) were significantly longer (p < 0.0001) for the in-person group. Conclusion(s): Telehealth offered comparable %TBWL and HbA1c decline as in-person follow-up, but with a shorter follow-up, fewer appointments, and no-shows. If improved resource utilization is validated by other studies, telehealth should become the standard of care for the management of obesity and diabetes.Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Obesity Science & Practice published by World Obesity and The Obesity Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Working With AI to Persuade: Examining a Large Language Model's Ability to Generate Pro-Vaccination Messages

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a transformative force in communication and messaging strategy, with potential to disrupt traditional approaches. Large language models (LLMs), a form of AI, are capable of generating high-quality, humanlike text. We investigate the persuasive quality of AI-generated messages to understand how AI could impact public health messaging. Specifically, through a series of studies designed to characterize and evaluate generative AI in developing public health messages, we analyze COVID-19 pro-vaccination messages generated by GPT-3, a state-of-the-art instantiation of a large language model. Study 1 is a systematic evaluation of GPT-3's ability to generate pro-vaccination messages. Study 2 then observed peoples' perceptions of curated GPT-3-generated messages compared to human-authored messages released by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), finding that GPT-3 messages were perceived as more effective, stronger arguments, and evoked more positive attitudes than CDC messages. Finally, Study 3 assessed the role of source labels on perceived quality, finding that while participants preferred AI-generated messages, they expressed dispreference for messages that were labeled as AI-generated. The results suggest that, with human supervision, AI can be used to create effective public health messages, but that individuals prefer their public health messages to come from human institutions rather than AI sources. We propose best practices for assessing generative outputs of large language models in future social science research and ways health professionals can use AI systems to augment public health messaging. © 2023 ACM.

State Public Health Communications and Public Compliance during the Pre-election SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: Interpreting the Effectiveness of Messaging Guidelines Utilizing Moral Foundations Theory

Background: State-level public health messaging during the pre-election coronavirus pandemic was very inconsistent. Moral motivational content of the messages, as characterized by moral foundations theory, may have contributed to the degree of compliance in particular states. More attention to this content might result in greater compliance and a lessening of the pandemic's severity. Method(s): A comprehensive review of official state messaging in six U.S. states (California, Florida, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, and Texas) was reviewed for the number and distribution of moral foundations as described by moral foundations theory. A search was done for state-level data concerning compliance with mask-wearing and social distancing, the primary public precautionary measures during the pandemic. Rates of compliance by the state were compared with messaging content and analyzed for associations and correlations with the known partisan leanings of the states. Examples of messages with balanced moral foundations, which might be prospectively employed for greater acceptance, were presented. All data were gathered prior to the introduction of the first available vaccine. Result(s): Message review and compliance data suggested that the quantity and proportion of coronavirus-related official messages and the utilization of a balanced combination of moral foundations were associated with higher levels of compliance with the recommended public health measures and lower infection rates. The political orientations of states did not align with the use of known conservative/liberal preferred moral foundations as previously established by Moral Foundations Theory. Conclusion(s): Adjusting messaging with attention to the balanced employment of moral foundations can lead to wider acceptance of and compliance with preventive public health measures.Copyright © 2023 James F. Hall.

Countering violent extremism in central Asia and South Asia: Islamophobia and cyber-radicalization in the digital era

Widespread political and economic uncertainty following the COVID-19 pandemic, paired with increased access to digital messaging and online social media platforms, has rendered vulnerable populations in Central Asia and South Asia (CASA) even more susceptible to misinformation, radical propaganda, and population targeting by violent extremists. More, studies show that violent extremism is inextricably linked with Islamophobia. Violent extremist recruiters frequently capitalize on publicized Islamophobic events to spread digital misinformation and lure disenfranchised recruits, particularly among youth populations. A debilitated Afghanistan only compounds these issues in CASA. The growing humanitarian crisis in the wake of U.S. military withdrawal, leaves this impoverished nation ripe for the proliferation of violent extremist activity that will reach far beyond its borders. Weaponized cyber-misinformation is a moving target that threatens even rural populations. Effective deterrence calls for novel multilateral efforts between great and local powers, both on and offline, to dispel skewed narratives and reinforce positive counter-narratives. While expanding access to digital communications in CASA presents obvious challenges for countering violent extremism, it likewise affords vital new opportunities for cooperation between global and regional powers to reach previously unreachable, vulnerable populations. © The Author(s), 2022. All rights reserved.

Implementation of free-draft text messaging to enhance care retention and satisfaction for persons living with HIV infection.

Eligible persons with HIV infection can receive client-centered case management to coordinate medical and social services. Novel mobile health interventions could improve effective case management and retention in care, an important goal to help end the HIV epidemic. Using a hybrid type I effectiveness-implementation design, we assessed whether access to bidirectional, free-draft secure text messaging with a case manager and clinic pharmacist could improve client satisfaction and care retention in a Southern academic HIV clinic. Sixty-four clients enrolled between November 2019 and March 2020, had a median age of 39 years, and were mostly male, single, and African-American. Heavy app users texted over 100 times (n = 6) over the course of the 12-month intervention while others never texted (n = 12). App usage peaked during months of clinic closure due to COVID-19. Most participants reported high satisfaction with the app and planned continued usage after study completion. Changes in clinic retention and virologic suppression rates were not observed, a result confounded by practice changes due to COVID-19. High usage and satisfaction of free-draft text messaging in case-managed HIV clients supports inclusion of this communication option in routine HIV clinical care.

The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Mobile Messaging Application Among Millennials in Public Universities in Malaysia

Mobile messaging apps are currently a popular method in Malaysia for communicating while on the go, owing to its convenience, reliability, and contact-free feature of mobile application. Fueled by mobile internet and smartphone growth, mobile messaging apps have become a strong force in the mobile app sector, offering users an alternative to SMS-based texting paired with social media elements and enhanced features, such as group chats and photo sharing. The study was anchored using the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 theory. A survey with 150 respondents and PLS analysis is used to determine the antecedents of mobile application continuance usage during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results revealed that there is an influence in the usage of mobile messaging apps among the younger generation in Malaysian public university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. The main implication shows that mobile application among young generations in public universities has become popular. The convenience usage of the internet has turned the world into a global village.

Staying The Blazes Home: Group Charisma, Government Messaging and COVID-19

This case study of Nova Scotia, Canada, inspects the uptake and circulation of provincial government health messaging during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, organized around the motto "stay the blazes home." Messaging and collective narratives are analyzed by way of Norbert Elias's "established/outsider" dynamics, especially focusing on his concepts of "group charisma" and "praise and blame gossip." Economic realities and identity practices helped make this motto recognizable as a proffered collective call to action around themes of self-restraint rather than neoliberal risk calculation. Outsiders in this collective identity formation are understood to bring more than disease to the province but "anomic infection" itself. Furthermore, the mechanisms of reopening the province are also found in a longstanding and related collective ethos toward hospitality. Finally, the problematic post-pandemic dynamics of established group identity formation are examined.

Social Media for Public Health: Framework for Social Media-Based Public Health Campaigns.

The pervasiveness of social media is irrefutable, with 72% of adults reporting using at least one social media platform and an average daily usage of 2 hours. Social media has been shown to influence health-related behaviors, and it offers a powerful tool through which we can rapidly reach large segments of the population with tailored health messaging. However, despite increasing interest in using social media for dissemination of public health messaging and research exploring the dangers of misinformation on social media, the specifics of how public health practitioners can effectively use social media for health promotion are not well described. In this viewpoint, we propose a novel framework with the following 5 key principles to guide the use of social media for public health campaigns: (1) tailoring messages and targeting them to specific populations-this may include targeting messages to specific populations based on age, sex, or language spoken; interests; or geotargeting messages at state, city, or zip code level; (2) including members of the target population in message development-messages should be designed with and approved by members of the community they are designed to reach, to ensure cultural sensitivity and trust-building; (3) identifying and addressing misinformation-public health practitioners can directly address misinformation through myth-busting messages, in which false claims are highlighted and explained and accurate information reiterated; (4) leveraging information sharing-when designing messages for social media, it is crucial to consider their "shareability," and consider partnering with social media influencers who are trusted messengers among their online followers; and (5) evaluating impact by measuring real-world outcomes, for example measuring foot traffic data. Leveraging social media to deliver public health campaigns enables us to capitalize on sophisticated for-profit advertising techniques to disseminate tailored messaging directly to communities that need it most, with a precision far beyond the reaches of conventional mass media. We call for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as state and local public health agencies to continue to optimize and rigorously evaluate the use of social media for health promotion.

Counter Intuitiveness of Influence Science, Social Judgment Theory, and Strategic Messaging in Great Power Competition

Information is actively playing a strategic role in the Great Power Competition. China is playing a deliberate and well-orchestrated strategic game aimed at dominating the information space and through it changing opinions about China and Chinese actions across the globe. Russia meanwhile continues to use information to disrupt and create divides within the American public at every opportunity. At the same time, messaging from the United States continues to send mixed signals without any apparent coherence or strategy. In the Great Powers Competition, understanding the science of influence is paramount;however, the science of influence is complicated and counter-intuitive. To explain this, we developed several Maxims of, or basic principles, that we believe are essential to anyone trying to understand malign influence or conduct influence efforts themselves. The purpose of these maxims is to provide some general rules on how to think about the process of influence. Because the science of influence is counter-intuitive and without some fundamental principles to follow, many influence efforts devolve into simple marketing and advertising efforts that fail. These maxims are based on scientifically valid, empirically based research conducted over the past 100 years. Ultimately, these maxims help readers understand how messages appeal to some and/or cause others to reject ideas. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Developing a Virtual World for an Open-House Event: A Metaverse Approach

The concept of a metaverse, a virtual world that offers immersive experiences, has gained widespread interest in recent years. Despite the hype, there is still a gap in its practical application, especially in the realm of education. This study presents the design and implementation of a metaverse tailored to the needs of education. The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of such a system and evaluate its effectiveness. It is crucial to understand the architecture and implementation of a metaverse to effectively customise it for educational purposes. To assess user experience, a field study was conducted, collecting data through questionnaires and qualitative feedback. The results show that users were pleased with the features, player experience, and ease of use.

Canada is No Exception: The 2022 Freedom Convoy, Political Entanglement, and Identity-Driven Protest

Canada has been relatively immune to grassroots-driven populist political forces in recent years despite global shifts toward a mainstreaming of nationalist identity-driven politics. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic coupled with other shifts in the Canadian and international political landscapes, have changed this dynamic. This article takes interest in the 2022 Freedom Convoy—also known as Convoi de la liberté in French—through the lens of Canadian political as well as science and health-based communication. The protesters' actions, and the subsequent political response, suggest an increased political entanglement with both protest movements and identity-driven political communications and messaging. © 2023 SAGE Publications.