The causal relationship model of factors influencing COVID-19 preventive behaviors during the post-pandemic era and implications for health prevention strategies: a case of Bangkok City, Thailand.

BACKGROUND: Though, many countries are currently in the COVID post-pandemic era, people's health protective behaviours are still essential to protect their health and well-being. This study aims to evaluate people's understanding and perceptions of COVID-19 risk characteristics (i.e. threat occurrence, threat severity, perceived susceptibility and exposure), the health risk perception towards COVID-19, and health protective behaviours. The study also aims to estimate the associations among these factors by the analysis of structural equation modelling (SEM). METHODS: From 15 October to 9 November 2022, questionnaire surveys were administrated to 521 people living in Bangkok of Thailand by using the convenience sampling technique. The analyses were carried out in three phases including descriptive statistical analyses, a measurement model assessment using a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis. RESULTS: The results of descriptive analyses demonstrated that the majority of respondents, 39.9%, had the age between 20 and 30 years old, and 61.4% of them were female. Approximately 52.1% of them had a bachelor's degree. Upon analysing individuals' understanding and perceptions of all risk characteristics, individuals' understanding of COVID-19 severity did not statistically affect health risk perception towards COVID-19, whereas perceived exposure had the strongest effect and in turn influenced health protective behaviours. Perceived susceptibility and understanding of the threat occurrence also significantly affected health risk perception, and indirectly affected health protective behaviours. CONCLUSIONS: This study implies that though the potential health impact of COVID-19 is perceived as less severe, people can still construct a perception of its risk particularly based on their perceived exposure and susceptibility. Thus, communicating people about exposure conditions and susceptibility can greatly contribute to people' construction of risk perception towards COVID-19 which subsequently leads to the decision to perform health protective behaviours.

The Role of the Theory of Planned Behavior in Explaining the Energy-Saving Behaviors of High School Students with Physical Impairments.

People with physical impairments can help solve energy problems by participating in diverse energy-saving behaviors, such as switching off lights or turning off an air conditioner when not in use; however, they may struggle to participate in some behaviors due to mobility impairments. This study aims to examine factors that impact the energy-saving behaviors of high school students with physical impairments. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) was used to test whether attitudes towards energy-saving behaviors, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control could affect intentions, which then leads to performance of energy-saving behaviors. The participants were 330 high school students with physical impairments in Thailand. A questionnaire was employed to measure energy-saving behaviors and TPB constructs. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to validate all study variables; structural equation modeling (SEM) was then used to test causal relationships among TPB constructs and energy-saving behaviors. The results showed that the TPB could be used to explain the energy-saving behaviors of students with physical impairments, that subjective norms were the most significant predictor of behavioral intentions, and that intentions significantly impacted energy-saving behaviors. While perceived behavioral control did not have a direct effect on behaviors, it had a significant effect on intentions. Under the TPB construct, of the studied variables, attitude had the lowest power to predict students' intentions to perform the concerned behaviors; however, the impact of attitude was still statistically significant. The results suggest that all TPB variables can predict energy-saving behaviors of high school students with physical impairments, but their power to predict the behaviors is different. To promote student participation in energy-saving behaviors, it is important to create subjective norms and eliminate obstacles that students with physical impairments might face when performing energy-saving behaviors.

Effectiveness of warning graphic labels on cigarette packs in enhancing late-teenagers' perceived fear of smoking-related harms in Bangkok, Thailand.

Background: This study investigated the level of fear of smoking- related harms for teenagers of different gender, different levels of smoking behaviour, and difference in smoking levels of friends and family members, as influenced by warning graphic images on cigarette packs. The study also compared levels of this fear in categories based on participants' perception (e.g., scarier or less scary images). Design and Methods: The sample group was 353 undergraduate students at King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi in Bangkok, Thailand. Questionnaires containing 21 warning graphic images, aimed at measuring levels of fear of smoking-related harms, were conducted. Both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, such as independent and dependent ttest, were used to analyse the data. Results: The results showed that warning graphic images exhibiting patients suffering from cancers (e.g., lung cancer or laryngeal cancer) and images of damaged body parts were perceived as the scariest warning images. In contrast, images that did not illustrate serious disease suffered by smokers were perceived as the least scary images. The scariest images generated a significant higher level of fear of smoking-related harms than the least scary images. In addition, non-smoking participants were more sensitive to scary warning images than smoking participants. It was also found that the level of fear of smoking-related harms was significantly based on individual cognitive judgment, and it was not affected by the influence of social groups such as friends and family members. Conclusions: Developing effective warning graphic images could directly contribute to individuals' perceived health risks and danger associated with smoking.