Complexity awareness among university students in Switzerland during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Public health challenges relating to Covid-19 are highly complex and reasons behind preventive measures can be difficult to understand. Complexity awareness, an important part of healthy literacy, may help young people to understand the situation and act accordingly. However, we could not find any tools to assess complexity awareness during a pandemic in the literature. The purpose of this study was to develop pandemic-specific items to assess complexity awareness and explore relationships with sociodemographic characteristics in university students. Based on critical health literacy concepts and expert knowledge from public health, we developed four survey items, which were answered by 3616 Swiss university students online as part of the COVID-19 International Student Well-Being Study. Relationships between awareness and sociodemographic characteristics were explored using logistic regression and odds ratio (OR). Results showed that 49.6% of the students demonstrated limited and 50.4% demonstrated high complexity awareness. Being female (OR = 1.26; 95% CI 1.07-1.47), having highly educated parents (OR = 1.29; 95% CI 1.06-1.57), and being at a practically oriented university (OR = 0.79; 95% CI 0.64-0.97) was associated with high awareness. Covid-19-related complexity awareness varied significantly among university students, indicating that they have difficulties in dealing with complex information and processes in this pandemic. The results call for action to support students in understanding the complexity of this pandemic and to investigate complexity awareness in the general population.

There is a large amount of complex information and misinformation around Covid-19 available. Complexity awareness refers to awareness about these complex issues which may help young people to identify and process appropriate information. We were interested how sociodemographic characteristics relate to complexity awareness in young people. Thus, in May 2020, we conducted a survey at four universities in Switzerland, with more than 3500 students participating and asked, for example, how strong students rate the at that time available scientific evidence to guide political decision-making regarding Covid-19. We also asked them about some personal characteristics, such as gender and parental education. Despite the highly educated sample, we found that only about half of the students demonstrated high-complexity awareness. We found that students who were women or who had at least one parent with a university degree were more likely to demonstrate high complexity awareness. In contrast, students at a practically compared to a research-oriented university were less likely to demonstrate high-complexity awareness. Our results indicate that even highly educated university students have difficulties in dealing with complex information and processes regarding the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, university students should be specifically targeted to empower them to deal with complex information and processes around Covid-19.

Critical health literacy: reflection and action for health.

Health literacy research is growing rapidly and broadly; however, conceptual advances in critical health literacy (CHL) seem hampered by a lack of a clear definition. In this paper, we refer to key features of the concept as identified in earlier works, offer a new definition of CHL and briefly discuss its theoretical roots. Reflection and action are suggested as the two constituent components of CHL. Consequences for future research are also discussed.

Critical health literacy (CHL) has been a term circulating in health promotion discourse for over 20 years; however, its definition has been vague and without firm theoretical grounding. This has often led to confounding CHL with 'critical literacy'. To disentangle these terms, we offer a new definition of CHL as the ability to reflect upon health determining factors and processes and to apply the results of the reflection into individual or collective actions for health in any given context. Reflection is a critical attitude towards socio-cultural realities that shape lives. Action is the ability to change these realities. Reflection and action work together. In our theoretical argument, we acknowledge CHL's roots in critical emancipatory theory and review CHL's recent treatment as an approach that provides awareness of social and cultural conditions. Our definition refers to reflection and action and their significance in the reproduction of social inequalities. We suggest that our theoretical framework can provide a focus for CHL's application in research on health inequalities, the foundation for future CHL assessments, and a starting point for discussion about CHL's potential theoretical orientations in public health and health promotion.

Exploring Well-Being and Its Correlates among Young Men Using Sen's Capability Approach: Results from the Young Adults Survey, Switzerland (YASS).

BACKGROUND: The range of options people have to do the things they value in life may have strong effects on their well-being. This is especially true for young adults, as their opportunities and choices may affect both their current and future lives. This study follows Sen's capability approach (CA) to assess young people's well-being in terms of capabilities and functionings. METHODS: Repeated cross-sectional data from the Young Adult Survey Switzerland were used for the analysis (N = 58,615). Descriptive statistics were applied to analyze the distribution of capabilities and functionings according to individuals' capital equipment. Finally, multivariate regression analyses were conducted to investigate associations between social, cultural, and economic capital; overall capabilities; and functionings. RESULTS: Young men with lower capital equipment rated their capabilities and functionings lower than others. Capabilities and corresponding functionings differed in the domains of health, happiness, and intellectual stimulation. Multivariate analysis confirmed the effects of social, economic, and cultural capital on both overall capabilities and functionings. CONCLUSIONS: Young men differ in their perceived capabilities and functionings in different life domains according to their equipment with different forms of capital. To better understand the mechanisms underlying the transformation of capabilities into functionings, future studies should analyze issues of choice and adaptation to restricted living conditions.

Heavy energy drink consumption is associated with risky substance use in young Swiss men.

OBJECTIVES: Heavy consumption of energy drinks appears to pose a public health problem among young adults. This paper examines (i) the prevalence of chronic heavy energy drink use (consuming energy drinks more than once a day) and (ii) its associations with sociodemographic and health behaviour-related factors, especially substance use. METHODS: We used multiple logistic regression analyses to examine the relationships between chronic heavy energy drink use and sociodemographic and health behaviour-related factors, based on cross-sectional data from 18–21-year-old men who took part in the “Young Adult Survey Switzerland” (YASS) in 2010/2011 (n = 10,345) and 2014/2015 (n = 9761). RESULTS: Prevalence of chronic heavy energy drink use was high in both data sets: 7.5% of young adult men in Switzerland in 2010/11, and 6.0% in 2014/15, consumed energy drinks more than once a day. Chronic heavy energy drink use followed a social gradient: people with a low level of education were more likely to consume energy drinks more than once a day. Multiple daily energy drink consumption was associated with other unhealthy behaviours, especially substance use (smoking, alcohol consumption, use of tranquilizers or sleeping pills, use of painkillers). Among the strongest associations were the use of painkillers (odds ratio [OR] 5.23, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 3.51–7.79) and tranquilizers/sleeping pills (OR 4.07, 95% CI 2.66–6.25). CONCLUSION: Chronic heavy energy drink consumers are a significant population subgroup in Switzerland and are relevant for public health due to the co-occurrence of unhealthy substance use. This link and the close relationship between chronic heavy energy drink use and social class indicate the role of lifestyle in the emergence and distribution of energy drink consumption. Interventions that encourage chronic heavy energy drink consumers to make positive lifestyle changes may contribute to the prevention of unhealthy substance use.