Public sentiment towards cruises and resulting stock performance in 2017–2021

Social and economic impacts of the cruise industry are undeniable within the United States (U.S.). Online media about cruising was quantified in terms of volume and net sentiment, then analyzed alongside stock market performance of cruise companies. Daily net sentiment was positively correlated with daily stock closing prices for the three major operators studied (NCLH, RCL, CCL). Further analysis reveals that online media net sentiment had a positive effect on daily closing prices;an increase of 1 point in the sentiment score led to a $0.07, $0.23, and $0.08 increase in the daily closing price of NCLH, RCL, and CCL, respectively. In addition, imposing a no sail order led to negative impacts with the greatest against RCL. Finally, a variable for the COVID effect on these firms revealed differing magnitudes of effect and directionality to each of the firms.

Assessing the Saudi Population Knowledge, Acceptance, and Perception on the Effectiveness of Following the Safety Precautions During COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become an alarming issue worldwide. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was fast in adopting the safety precaution measures and is considered one of the major countries that place preventive precautions measures to control the spread of the disease. The current study aims to assess the knowledge, effectiveness, and acceptance of the public regarding COVID-19 safety precautions measures: face masks, physical distance, wash hands/use hand sanitizer, and the use of Tawakkalna application as a preventive measure in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Methods: The study design was quantitative cross-sectional using a self-administered questionnaire. Results: Of the 400 received responses, the data analysis showed that there was a significant association between knowledge about the safety precaution measures score with nationality and gender with P value less than 0.05. Conclusion: The awareness of Saudi citizens of the importance of implementing preventive precautions and their compliance greatly contributed in limiting the virus spread.

Public Opinion Mining on Construction Health and Safety: Latent Dirichlet Allocation Approach

The construction industry has been experiencing many occupational accidents as working on construction sites is dangerous. To reduce the likelihood of accidents, construction companies share the latest construction health and safety news and information on social media. While research studies in recent years have explored the perceptions towards these companies' social media pages, there are no big data analytic studies conducted on Instagram about construction health and safety. This study aims to consolidate public perceptions of construction health and safety by analyzing Instagram posts. The study adopted a big data analytics approach involving visual, content, user, and sentiment analyses of Instagram posts (n = 17,835). The study adopted the Latent Dirichlet Allocation, a kind of machine learning approach for generative probabilistic topic extraction, and the five most mentioned topics were: (a) training service, (b) team management, (c) training organization, (d) workers' work and family, and (e) users' action. Besides, the Jaccard coefficient co-occurrence cluster analysis revealed: (a) the most mentioned collocations were ‘construction safety week', ‘safety first', and ‘construction team', (b) the largest clusters were ‘safety training', ‘occupational health and safety administration', and ‘health and safety environment', (c) the most active users were ‘Parallel Consultancy Ltd.', ‘Pike Consulting Group', and ‘Global Training Canada', and (d) positive sentiment accounted for an overwhelming figure of 85%. The findings inform the industry on public perceptions that help create awareness and develop preventative measures for increased health and safety and decreased incidents.

Public Perceptions and Attitudes on the Image of Nursing in the Wake of COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic in recent years has given nursing teams a unique place in this war, and an opportunity to change public opinion. The perceptions have the power to affect the users of health services, the nurses' performance, health policy, and even the choice to become a nurse. AIM: To examine the relationship between the public's perceptions and attitudes to the nursing profession compared with other healthcare professions, and to examine the relationship with the image of nursing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN AND METHODS: This study is a cross-sectional study, with a descriptive correlational design. Specifically, 80 respondents, men and women aged 18-75, joined a survey consisting of an anonymous questionnaire. RESULTS: A positive relationship was found between the public's perceptions and attitudes to nursing compared with other professions and the image of nursing in the wake of COVID-19, so the more positive public opinion was, the more positive the image of nursing would be. CONCLUSION: In the wake of COVID-19, the public's opinion and perception of the nursing profession compared to other professions and their attitudes to nurses are more positive. It is important to continue to explore which factors most affected and changed the image of nursing during the pandemic, and to design strategies to preserve the improved image of nursing among the public on an ongoing basis.

Quantifying "local food" online and social media in the United States for 2018-2021.

Background: Interest in local food has been growing, driven by increased attention from consumers, supporting policies, and interest in offering supply by local producers. Nonetheless, a definition of "local food" remains elusive, varying with purposes, geographies, and perceptions. This study quantifies online media mentioning local food in 2018-2021 using online and social media listening and analytics. In addition, a sub-search devoted to local food security and access was conducted due to a high proportion of mentions devoted to food security in the initial search. Variations in mentions and net sentiment quantified for individual US states are also presented. Results: The local food pantry sub-search arose after finding a large share of the general local food media was referencing local food access rather than production or other topics. The interest in local food access was more apparent during crises periods, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, during which even a larger portion of mentions are devoted to the local food pantry sub-search topic. Mentions quantified from the sub-search are mostly expressing concerns about worsened food insecurity during the pandemic and encouraging others to do things like donate food to local pantries. Conclusions: Online and social media can play an important role towards active communication in local communities on topics, such as food availability and access. In addition, online media can facilitate more efficient emergency management.

Public views of community pharmacy services during the COVID-19 pandemic: a national survey.

OBJECTIVE: To assess public opinion about community pharmacy services in Lebanon during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD: A cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire was conducted between April and August of 2021. A link was shared randomly among the Lebanese population using WhatsApp and Facebook. Public perceptions were explored within 3 different indicators: general services (B) dispensing (C), and storage (D). Chi-square, Student's test and ANOVA tests were used. p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Out of 491 responses, only 9.6% scored above the 75th percentile (19.3% for the general services, 2.4% for dispensing indicator and 12.6% for storage indicator). The main concerns focused on lack of medication and reduced opening hours; however, 67.1% of respondents preferred consulting the community pharmacist instead of visiting primary health care centers, doctor's private clinic and hospitals. Higher mean values of indicators B, C and in the overall indicator were significantly found in the presence of a pharmacist compared to the support pharmacy workforce. CONCLUSION: The overall public perception was inadequate. Significant difference in terms of quality of services was detected in the presence and absence of a community pharmacist during the crisis. It is recommended that the Order of Pharmacist of Lebanon (OPL) and the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) undergo further steps mainly to enforce the laws concerning dispensing and storage indicators, improve the services in terms of extending the opening hours, ensure the availability of medicines and increase public awareness.

Psychological Distance to Science as a Predictor of Science Skepticism Across Domains.

This article presents and tests psychological distance to science (PSYDISC) as a domain-general predictor of science skepticism. Drawing on the concept of psychological distance, PSYDISC reflects the extent to which individuals perceive science as a tangible undertaking conducted by people similar to oneself (social), with effects in the here (spatial) and now (temporal), and as useful and applicable in the real world (hypothetical distance). In six studies (two preregistered; total N = 1,630) and two countries, we developed and established the factor structure and validity of a scale measuring PSYDISC. Crucially, higher PSYDISC predicted skepticism beyond established predictors, across science domains. A final study showed that PSYDISC shapes real-world behavior (COVID-19 vaccination uptake). This work thus provides a novel tool to predict science skepticism, as well as a construct that can help to further develop a unifying framework to understand science skepticism across domains.

Monkeypox caused less worry than COVID-19 among the general population during the first month of the WHO Monkeypox alert: Experience from Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND: Monkeypox re-emerged in May 2022 as another global health threat. This study assessed the public's perception, worries, and vaccine acceptance for Monkeypox and COVID-19 during the first month of WHO announcement. METHODS: A large-scale, cross-sectional survey was conducted between May 27 and June 5, 2022, in Saudi Arabia. Data were collected on sociodemographic characteristics, previous infection with COVID-19, worry levels regarding Monkeypox compared to COVID-19, awareness, and perceptions of Monkeypox, and vaccine acceptance. RESULTS: Among the 1546 participants, most respondents (62%) were more worried about COVID-19 than Monkeypox. Respondents aged 45 years and above and those with a university degree or higher had lower odds of agreement with Monkeypox vaccination (OR 0.871, p-value 0.006, OR 0.719, p-value <0.001), respectively. Respondents with moderate to a high level of self and family commitment to infection control precautionary measures and those who expressed self and family worry of Monkeypox infection had significantly higher odds of vaccination agreement (OR 1.089 p-value = 0.047, OR1.395 p-value = 0.003) respectively. On the other hand, respondents who previously developed COVID-19 were significantly more worried about the Monkeypox disease (1.30 times more, p-value = 0.020). CONCLUSION: Worry levels amongst the public are higher from COVID-19 than Monkeypox. Perception of Monkeypox as a dangerous and virulent disease, worry from contracting the disease, and high commitment to infection precautionary measures were predictors of agreement with Monkeypox vaccination. While advanced age and high education level are predictors of low agreement with vaccination.

Analyzing Russian Media Policy on Promoting Vaccination and Other COVID-19 Risk Mitigation Measures.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in many tangible and intangible losses. To manage the risk of the pandemic and to mitigate its further spread, governments of many countries applied various pandemic risk mitigation measures. Media campaigns played a particularly large role during the pandemic, too. In addition, social media grew in importance because of the spread of technologies and as a result of the increased attention to information about COVID-19. Media information strongly influenced both the public perception of COVID-19 risk and decision-making processes and choices, which people made regarding risk reduction measures during the pandemic. Moreover, media information has had a major impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of various countries' risk management actions. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to investigate the influence of the Russian media on the population's perception of risk, and to address the question about which linguistic and psychological methods they used to shape different media discourses about the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, we analyzed media discourses as a part of the case study of COVID-19 risk management in the Russian Federation. The theoretical basis of the study includes mass communication theories. The methodological basis consists of linguo-cognitive analysis of empirical materials for specific political-philosophical, linguistic-publicistic, and sociopsychological functioning.

Walking on the Sea Traces: Developing a platform to bring Ocean Literacy and Citizen Science at Home

The process of the development of a citizen science platform on Ocean Literacy designed and implemented during the lock down period of 2020 is described. As restrictions due to the COVID-19 health emergency did not allow researchers to organise public events and field data collection activities related to Ocean Literacy, it was decided to take advantage of this situation by building an online platform to bring Ocean Literacy issues directly into citizens' homes. The massive use of digital tools by all civic communities during this time has enabled both the implementation of this idea and rendering it effective. The pandemic control measures then provided a unique opportunity to focus citizen attention on the collection of household data and information and to highlight the more or less direct connections between citizens' lifestyles and the eco-marine system. Short questionnaires were used to ascertain and highlight citizens' household behaviours and daily attitudes during the lockdown towards water use, seafood consumption and plastic material use and disposal. Data and information were also proposed, collected and analyzed in terms of: general environmental awareness of the respondents, perception regarding their purchasing choices during this particular period, as well as any changes in lifestyles and habits during the lockdown with respect to previous periods. The collected data enabled the improvement of our knowledge on some aspects of people's domestic habits as well as their perception vs. real knowledge about the proposed environmental issues. We also realized that it is increasingly crucial for scientists to directly and extensively involve people and schools in educational and outreach activities and events as a good practice of science-society interaction. But to achieve good results there is a need to develop appropriate communication tools and effective involvement strategies to promote their widespread participation in citizen science projects.

COVID-19 Lessons and Post-pandemic Recovery: A Case of Latvia.

The decision of EU and the response of the national governments to COVID-19 crisis provide the basis for returning "back to normal". A key challenge is the transition to economic recovery in the presence of the ongoing COVID-19 risk. Adequate policy mix and forward-looking actions of the public institutions are crucial to mitigate the devastating impact of the crisis and to preserve growth. Governments need to facilitate positive changes in the labor market, adjust the macroeconomic and fiscal regimes, and mitigate the post-crisis "fatigue" of societies. The turmoil of the EU economy is symmetrical, as the pandemic has affected all EU Member States, but the impact of the pandemic varies considerably from one country to another, as does their ability to absorb the economic crisis. Also, variation in the vaccination performance is partly due to different institutional characteristics across countries. Small countries are more vulnerable to external economic shocks; however, they can increase their resilience by efficient governance and social response. Extraordinary pandemic crisis can be seen as a stress test for the small and open Latvian economy, and it is worth analyzing the lessons that Latvia had learned and its future prospects. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the economic and social consequences of the ongoing crisis in Latvia, assess the effectiveness of the response of the government to the crisis, analyse people's perceptions, and to identify the future scenarios. The authors applied a special theoretical framework for the assessment of the effectiveness of institutions. Institutional analysis of crises response by the Latvian government reveals that the government managed to avoid serious functional disruptions; however, it failed to show convincing ability to learn by doing. The authors also provide a comprehensive analysis of the macroeconomic trends of the "COVID-sick" Latvian economy and conclude that future-oriented solutions relate to international competitiveness and that the key factor of competitiveness is a productivity renaissance. The pandemic crisis has fostered the state support for healthcare, which in Latvia for decades has been underfinanced. The right choice of fiscal instruments is crucial to accelerate the economic recovery and better healthcare. Research is based on the macroeconomic assessment and survey-based analysis. The comparison of statistically justified findings with the public perception helps formulate conclusions on the future scenarios and policies.

Physicians' Perspective on Vaccine-Hesitancy at the Beginning of Israel's COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign and Public's Perceptions of Physicians' Knowledge When Recommending the Vaccine to Their Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Because public healthcare workers (HCWs) are at the forefront of the battle against COVID-19, they must be able to provide vaccination information to their patients and respond to their anxieties and concerns. This research objectives were to (1) examine physicians' perceptions of how they received information about the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, their attitudes toward hesitant colleagues, and their own knowledge and self-efficacy in communicating information to their patients, and (2) to examine the public's perceptions of physicians' knowledge when recommending the COVID-19 vaccine to their patients. At the beginning of the vaccination campaign, a survey examined the attitudes of physicians in the Israeli public healthcare system (n = 295) regarding the Pfizer vaccine. In addition, the attitudes of a representative sample (n = 500) of the Israeli adult population (age 18+) were examined through interviews. Most of the participating physicians (81%) reported they had already been vaccinated or intended to be vaccinated. When asked about their reasons for vaccine hesitancy, 27% cited concerns about long-term side effects and doubts about the vaccine's effectiveness in preventing contagion. They cited system pressure and departmental norms as explanations for their eventual compliance. Moreover, they saw the system as less tolerant of hesitant physicians, while they themselves tend to be more tolerant. The results of the survey of the public showed that mostly young people (under 44) who tend to be critical believe that physicians do not have sufficient knowledge to make recommendations about the COVID-19 vaccine. The findings indicate that the health system should employ complete transparency in conveying the advantages and disadvantages of the COVID-19 vaccine to physicians. The system should be more tolerant of physicians' worries and concerns and grant legitimacy to their reservations and misgivings. Moreover, medical studies should reinforce physicians' immunological knowledge regarding vaccinations so they can help their patients make informed decisions.

Perception versus reality of the COVID-19 pandemic in U.S. meat markets.

Disruptions to meat markets during the COVID-19 pandemic spurred mass media attention. While media deeming the U.S. food system 'broken' garnered a great deal of attention, the actual production and meat availability data does not support this conclusion. The U.S. meat supply chain, while certainly strained and with measurable consequence during periods of adjustment, proved ultimately resilient and rebounded quickly. Increased attention on meat supply chains may drive continued efforts to improve resiliency, but analyses of online media and U.S. production and cold storage data do not support a narrative that the system 'broke', but was perhaps 'strained' and 'responded efficiently'. Findings indicate that public sentiment about U.S. meat supply overall was not as dominated by pandemic-era concerns as may be hypothesized.

Changes in People’s Mobility Behavior in Greece after the COVID-19 Outbreak

The lockdown and social distancing policies to reduce COVID-19 spread and perceived safety threats of COVID-19 significantly affected people’s travel behavior. Greece has been suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic, and people’s mobility behavior has been greatly affected. This study aims at: (1) exploring the variations in individuals’ trip frequencies by mode and purpose before and after the COVID-19 outbreak;(2) understanding the effects of individual differences (i.e., sociodemographic details) and perceptions towards COVID-19 (i.e., the perceived threats of COVID-19) on people’s mobility behavior changes after the outbreak;(3) underlining the individuals’ perceptions of the COVID-19 threat on the willingness of public transportation usage. Overall, 403 responses were collected in late 2020. A series of random parameter Probit modeling results reveal multiple individual and perception factors affecting the changes in mobility behavior in Greece. The results from structural equation modeling indicate that perceived COVID-19 threats affect the attitudes and subjective norms towards people’s intentions to use public transportation. The results from this study provide valuable insights for transportation authorities to develop effective strategies to manage traffic during the spread of disease for a possible future epidemic.

Imperfect Solutions to the Neoliberal Problem of Public Aging: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Public Narratives of Long-Term Residential Care.

Public representations of long-term residential care (LTRC) facilities have received limited focus in Canada, although literature from other countries indicates that public perceptions of LTRC tend to be negative, particularly in contexts that prioritize aging and dying in place. Using Manitoba as the study context, we investigate a question of broad relevance to the Canadian perspective; specifically, what are current public perceptions of the role and function of long-term care in the context of a changing health care system? Through critical discourse analysis, we identify four overarching discourses dominating public perceptions of LTRC: the problem of public aging, LTRC as an imperfect solution to the problem, LTRC as ambiguous social spaces, and LTRC as a last resort option. Building on prior theoretical work, we suggest that public perceptions of LTRC are informed by neoliberal discourses that privilege individual responsibility and problematize public care.

Perceptions and opinions of Nigerians to the management and response to COVID-19 in Nigeria.

INTRODUCTION: we present a qualitative analysis of opinions of the Nigerian general public as to how successful healthcare strategies have been in containing the COVID-19 outbreak. METHODS: an online qualitative survey was conducted, consisting of 30 semi-structured questions. RESULTS: four hundred and ninety-five (495) respondents participated, ranging in age from 18 to 59 years. Over 40% of all respondents were critical of public health information. Participants saw provision of social support measures (n = 83), lack of economic, financial and social support (n = 65), enforcement of restrictions on movement outside the home, availability of face-masks and social distancing (n = 53) and provision of COVID-19 testing (n = 48) as the major things that were handled poorly by the government and health authorities. CONCLUSION: we advocate coordinated forward planning for public safety until vaccines are widely available; while social distancing should continue. Policymakers need to be adaptable to changing conditions, given fluctuating case numbers and fatality rates.

Perceptions of the European Space Sector: Youth Engagement With Space Education Events

Space education not only plays a key role in helping young people understand the natural world and their impact on the planet but is also vital in ensuring that future generations can make meaningful contributions to the space sector at all levels. Positive perceptions of the space sector can lead young people to take roles where they can contribute to new knowledge, develop new technologies, and tackle societal challenges. As the relationship between science and society is tested by global events-such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic-scientific trust and accountability have become topics of frequent and public debate. The way in which young people engage with space education and perceive their potential involvement with the space sector is of greater importance now than ever before. This paper describes a two-year European space education project that was carried out before and during the COVID-19 global pandemic. An evaluation of the project activities showed that young people are generally enthusiastic about space, but their perceptions of the European space sector-and their connections to it-are less positive. Recommendations are made on the challenges facing the space sector and how it needs to adapt to better support the development of a more inclusive space education community.

Societal values and mask usage for COVID-19 control in the US.

Societies are looking for ways to mitigate risk while stimulating economic recovery from COVID-19. Facial coverings (masks) reduce the risk of disease spread but there is limited understanding of public beliefs regarding mask usage in the U.S. where mask wearing is divisive and politicized. We find that 83% (±3%) of U.S. respondents in our nationally representative sample believed masks have a role in U.S. society related to the spread of COVID-19 in June 2020. However, 11-24% of these respondents reported not wearing a mask themselves in some public locations. Beliefs about mask wearing and usage vary by respondent demographics and level of agreement with a variety of societal value statements. Agreement with the statement gun ownership is a right based on the U.S. Constitution was negatively correlated with the belief masks had a role in society related to the spread of COVID-19. Agreement with the statements healthcare is a human right and I always wear my seat belt when driving were positively correlated with the belief masks had a role. Only 47% of respondents agreed that "Wearing a mask will help prevent future lock-downs in my community related to COVID-19." Public perception of the importance of mask usage revealed public transportation, grocery/food stores, and schools, as the relatively most important public places for mask usage among those seven places studied. Results suggest that public health advisories about riskiness of various situations or locations and public perception of importance of risk mitigation by location may not be well aligned.

Content and Communication of Inpatient Family Visitation Policies During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Sequential Mixed Methods Study.

BACKGROUND: Inpatient health care facilities restricted inpatient visitation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no existing evidence of how they communicated these policies to the public nor the impact of their communication choices on public perception. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to describe patterns of inpatient visitation policies during the initial peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and the communication of these policies to the general public, as well as to identify communication strategies that maximize positive impressions of the facility despite visitation restrictions. METHODS: We conducted a sequential, exploratory, mixed methods study including a qualitative analysis of COVID-19 era visitation policies published on Pennsylvania-based facility websites, as captured between April 30 and May 20, 2020 (ie, during the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States). We also conducted a factorial survey-based experiment to test how key elements of hospitals' visitation policy communication are associated with individuals' willingness to seek care in October 2020. For analysis of the policies, we included all inpatient facilities in Pennsylvania. For the factorial experiment, US adults were drawn from internet research panels. The factorial survey-based experiment presented composite policies that varied in their justification for restricted visitation, the degree to which the facility expressed ownership of the policy, and the inclusion of family-centered care support plans. Our primary outcome was participants' willingness to recommend the hypothetical facility using a 5-point Likert scale. RESULTS: We identified 104 unique policies on inpatient visitation from 363 facilities' websites. The mean Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level for the policies was 14.2. Most policies prohibited family presence (99/104, 95.2%). Facilities justified the restricted visitation policies on the basis of community protection (59/104, 56.7%), authorities' guidance or regulations (34/104, 32.7%), or scientific rationale (23/104, 22.1%). A minority (38/104, 36.5%) addressed how restrictive visitation may impair family-centered care. Most of the policies analyzed used passive voice to communicate restrictions. A total of 1321 participants completed the web-based survey. Visitation policy elements significantly associated with willingness to recommend the facility included justifications based on community protection (OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.24-1.68) or scientific rationale (OR 1.30, 95% CI 1.12-1.51), rather than those based on a governing authority. The facility expressed a high degree of ownership over the decision (OR 1.16, 95% CI 1.04-1.29), rather than a low degree of ownership; and inclusion of family-centered care support plans (OR 2.80, 95% CI 2.51-3.12), rather than no such support. CONCLUSIONS: Health systems can immediately improve public receptiveness of restrictive visitation policies by emphasizing community protection, ownership over the facility's policy, and promoting family-centered care.