Quality of life: A way to buttress crisis program evaluations?

To test the applicability of the quality of life concept (QoL) in evaluations of financial assistance programs to sovereigns, we apply the OECD well-being framework to the programs in a euro area country, and find that the multidimensional framework promises policy-relevant findings, capable of informing other approaches for evaluating program relevance and effectiveness. The framework's headline indicators nevertheless, needed to be complemented with additional indicators owing to data challenges. The well-being dimensions demonstrate that our primary country case and other assisted euro area countries struggled to protect some vulnerable groups before and during the crisis years, although many QoL indicators depict improvement once program completion approached. In many cases, gender, age and education level related differences were apparent, and should be better considered in future crisis programs. The framework also facilitates considering governance elements with our enhancements. It offers good grounds for deepening the understanding of stakeholders' perception of reform benefits or shortcomings, thus of program ownership. By using the OECD framework we explore some interpretative limits of QoL in evaluation, and underscore that a full program evaluation would require careful integration in primary case data. Further research and data set improvements would enhance this approach's utility.

Understanding Changes in Adolescent Physical Activity Behaviors and Cognitions Prior to and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Despite accumulating evidence that has found significant negative declines in physical activity (PA) as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, little work has sought to understand how PA cognitions have changed during this period and in relation to behavior change during the pandemic. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the changes in adolescents' PA behaviors and cognitions associated with COVID-19 and prospective predictors of PA using the Multi-Process Action Control (M-PAC) framework. Adolescents were recruited from a large school board and a total of 588 participants (Mage = 15.87 ± 0.43 years, 60% female) completed data collection in both Fall 2019 and 2020-prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants completed self-reported measures of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), participation in organized activities, and variables derived from the M-PAC framework. Mixed effects models were computed to examine longitudinal changes in MVPA and cognitions as well as whether cognitions prior to COVID-19 predict MVPA during COVID-19. A generalized estimating equations model was computed to examine longitudinal changes for participation in organized activities. Findings indicated that MVPA (B = -56.41, p < 0.01) and participation in organized activities (OR = 0.33, p < 0.01) significantly decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Correspondingly, there were significant decreases in intentions (B = -0.34), identity (B = -0.19), and habit (B = -0.20), though there were increases in behavioral regulation (B = 0.18). No significant changes were found in affective attitudes, instrumental attitudes, perceived opportunity, and perceived capability. Among the baseline M-PAC cognitions, habit (B = 46.28) was the lone significant predictor of MVPA during COVID-19. Overall results suggest that adolescents' PA behaviors and cognitions were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, along with promising evidence that restrictions prompted adaptive utilization of behavioral regulation skills. Moreover, habit appears to play a salient role in predicting PA behaviors during uncertain times involving major life disruptions. These findings highlight the need to dedicate additional attention to PA promotion as COVID-19 moves toward an endemic phase, and that interventions targeting habit formation may be critical for helping adolescents better sustain healthy active lifestyles during major life changes.