Assessing Support for Policy Actions With Co-Benefits for Climate Change and Physical Activity in Canada.

BACKGROUND: Calls to action addressing the interconnections between physical (in)activity and the climate crisis are increasing. The current study aimed to investigate public support for policy actions that potentially have co-benefits for physical activity promotion and climate change mitigation. METHODS: In 2023, a survey through the Angus Reid Forum was completed by 2507 adults living in Canada. Binary logistic regressions were conducted. Separate models were created to reflect support or opposition to the 8 included policy items. Several covariates were included in the models including age, gender, political orientation, physical activity levels, income, urbanicity climate anxiety, and attitudes surrounding physical activity and climate change. The data were weighted to reflect the gender, age, and regional composition of the country. RESULTS: Most individuals living in Canada strongly or moderately supported all actions (ranging from 71% to 85%). Meeting the physical activity guidelines, higher self-reported income, and scoring high on personal experience of climate change were associated with higher odds of supporting the policy actions related to climate actions. CONCLUSIONS: Most adults living in Canada support policies that align with the recommended policy actions related to physical activity and climate change. National campaigns enhancing awareness and understanding of the bidirectional relationship between physical activity and climate change are warranted, and these should consider the consistent demographic differences (eg, gender, age, and political orientation) seen in public support for physical activity-related policies.

Re-assessing the social climate of physical (in)activity in Canada.

Social-ecological models suggest that a strategy for increasing population physical activity participation is to reconstruct the "social climate" through changing social norms and beliefs about physical activity (PA). In this study, we assessed whether the PA social climate in Canada has changed over a five-year period after controlling for sociodemographic factors and PA levels. Replicating a survey administered in 2018, a sample of adults in Canada (n = 2,507) completed an online survey assessing social climate dimensions, including but not limited to descriptive and injunctive norms. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and binary logistic regressions were conducted to assess the associations of sociodemographic factors and year of the survey with social climate dimensions. Results suggest some social climate constructs are trending in a positive direction between 2018 and 2023. Physical inactivity was considered a serious public health concern by 49% of respondents, second to unhealthy diets (52%). Compared to those who participated in the 2018 survey, participants in 2023 were less likely to see others walking or wheeling in their neighbourhood (OR = 1.58, 95% CI: 1.41, 1.78), but more likely to see people exercising (OR = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.73, 0.92) and kids playing in their neighbourhood (OR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.66, 0.85). No changes were reported between 2018 and 2023 in individuals' perceptions of whether physical inactivity is due to individual versus external factors (OR = 0.99, 95% CI: 0.87, 1.13). The findings of this work indicate a modest positive shift in some measured components of the social climate surrounding PA although attributing causes for these changes remain speculative.

Evaluating the adoption of cybersecurity and its influence on organizational performance.

Cyberattacks negatively impact the performance of enterprises all around the globe. While organizations invest more in cybersecurity to avoid cyberattacks, studies on the factors affecting their overall cybersecurity adoption and awareness are sparse. In this paper, by integrating the diffusion of innovation theory (DOI), technology acceptance model (TAM), and technology-organization-environment (TOE) with the balanced scorecard approach, we propose a comprehensive set of factors that influence cybersecurity adoption and assess the effects of these factors on organizational performance. Data are collected through a survey of IT experts in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the United Kingdom, with 147 valid responses. Structural equation modeling based on a statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) was used to assess the model. The findings identify and confirm the importance of eight factors affecting SMEs' cybersecurity adoption. Moreover, cybersecurity technology adoption is found to positively impacts organizational performance. The proposed framework depicts variables influencing cybersecurity technology adoption and assesses their importance. The outcomes of this study provide a basis for future research and can be adopted by IT and cybersecurity managers to identify the most appropriate cybersecurity technologies that positively impact their company's performance.

Parental support of the Canadian 24-hour movement guidelines for children and youth: prevalence and correlates.

BACKGROUND: To explore the prevalence of parental support for meeting the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth, identify key interactive support profiles among the four movement behaviors, and investigate subsequent sociodemographic and social cognitive correlates of these profiles. METHODS: A sample of Canadian parents (N = 1208) with children aged 5 to 17 years completed measures of the theory of planned behavior (TPB), and support of the four child movement behaviors via questionnaire. Differences in the proportion of parents supporting these four health behaviors were explored and demographic and social cognitive (attitude and perceived control) correlates of combinations of parental support for the four health behaviors were evaluated. RESULTS: Child and youth sleep behavior had the highest parental support (73%) and moderate to vigorous physical activity support had the lowest prevalence (23%). Interactive profiles of the four movement behaviors yielded six primary clusters and comprised wide variation from parents who supported none of these behaviors (19%), to parents who supported all four behaviors (14%). These profiles could be distinguished by the age of the child (younger children had higher support) and the gender of the parent (mothers provided more support), as well as constructs of the TPB, but TPB cognitions were more specific predictors of each health behavior rather than general predictors of aggregate health behavior clusters. CONCLUSIONS: Teenagers and fathers may represent key targets for parental support intervention of the 24-Hour Movement Guidelines. Intervention content may need to comprise the underlying foundations of attitude and perceived behavioral control to change parental support while considering the unique features of each health behavior to maximize related intervention effectiveness.

Application of the Multi-Process Action Control Framework to Understand Parental Support of Child and Youth Physical Activity, Sleep, and Screen Time Behaviours.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this paper was to apply a framework designed to evaluate the intention-behaviour gap, known as multi-process action control (M-PAC), to understand parental support for the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth. METHOD: Parents (N = 1,208) of children 5-17 years of age, completed measures of reflective (attitudes, perceived control), regulatory (planning), and reflexive (identity, habit) processes as well as intention and support behaviours. RESULTS: Parents had significantly (p < .01) higher intentions in descending order to support sleep (86%), reduce screen time (62%), or support physical activity (65% to 61%). Translation of these intentions into behaviour was also significantly (p < .01) higher in a descending pattern for sleep support (80%), screen time reduction (68%), and physical activity support (56% to 31%). Congruent with M-PAC, a discriminant function analysis of the results showed that the translation of parental support intentions into behaviour was associated with a combination of reflective, regulatory, and reflexive antecedents but these varied by the behaviours. CONCLUSION: The majority of parents have positive intentions to support child and youth health behaviours, yet many fail to enact this support. Translation of intention into action was associated with attitudinal aspects, control over support, self-regulation skills, and parental habits and identity.

Assessing the social climate of physical (in)activity in Canada.

BACKGROUND: Ecological models suggest that a strategy for increasing physical activity participation within a population is to reconstruct the "social climate". This can be accomplished through 1) changing norms and beliefs, 2) providing direct support for modifying environments, and 3) implementing policies to encourage physical activity. Nevertheless, surveillance efforts have paid limited attention to empirical assessment of social climate. This study responds to this gap by assessing the social climate of physical activity in Canada. METHODS: A representative sample of Canadian adults (n = 2519, male/female = 50.3%/49.7%, Mage = 49.1 ± 16.3 years) completed an online survey asking them to assess social climate dimensions including social norms of physical (in)activity, perceptions of who causes physical inactivity and who is responsible for solving physical inactivity, and support for physical activity-related policy. Descriptive statistics (frequencies) were calculated. Multinomial logistic regressions were constructed to identify whether demographic variables and physical activity participation associated with social climate dimensions. RESULTS: Physical inactivity was considered a serious public health concern by 55% of the respondents; similar to unhealthy diets (58%) and tobacco use (57%). Thirty-nine percent of the respondents reported that they often see other people exercising. Twenty-eight percent of the sample believed that society disapproves of physical inactivity. The majority of respondents (63%) viewed the cause of physical inactivity as both an individual responsibility and other factors beyond an individuals' control. Sixty-seven percent of respondents reported physical inactivity as being both a private matter and a public health matter. Strong support existed for environmental-, individual-, and economic-level policies but much less for legislative approaches. The social climate indicators were associated with respondents' level of physical activity participation and demographic variables in expected directions. CONCLUSION: This study is the first known attempt to assess social climate at a national level, addressing an important gap in knowledge related to advocating for, and implementing population-level physical activity interventions. Future tracking will be needed to identify any temporal (in)stability of these constructs over time and to explore the relationship between physical activity participation and indicators of the national social climate of physical activity.

Understanding action control of parental support behavior for child physical activity.

OBJECTIVE: Parental support is the critical family-level variable linked to child physical activity (PA), yet the antecedents of support are poorly understood, and its relationship with intention is modest. The purpose of this study was to apply a framework designed to evaluate the intention-behavior gap, known as multiprocess action control (M-PAC), to understand parental support for regular child PA. METHOD: Mothers (N = 1,253) with children 5-12 years of age completed measures of attitudes, perceived control over support, behavioral regulation tactics (e.g., planning, self-monitoring), and intention to support. Over half (58%) reported on subsequent support behaviors 6 months later. RESULTS: Three intention-behavior profiles emerged: (a) nonintenders (26.4%; n = 331), (b) unsuccessful intenders (36.6%; n = 458), and (c) successful intenders (33%; n = 414). Congruent with M-PAC, a discriminant function analysis showed that affective attitude about support (r = .18), perceived behavioral control over support (r = .55), and behavioral regulation (r = .55) distinguished between all 3 intention-behavior profiles. A disaggregated analysis of specific behavioral regulation tactics showed that most distinguished all 3 profiles, yet planning, information seeking, and monitoring were the critical correlates of the discriminant function. CONCLUSION: The majority of mothers had positive intentions to support regular child PA, yet over half failed to enact this support. Difficulty of intention translating into support behavior arises from compromised control over support, self-regulation skills, and perceptions that the support experience is unenjoyable. Interventions aimed at strengthening these factors are recommended to improve parental support action control.

Predicting Changes Across 12 Months in Three Types of Parental Support Behaviors and Mothers' Perceptions of Child Physical Activity.

BACKGROUND: Parental support has been established as the critical family-level variable linked to child physical activity with encouragement, logistical support, and parent-child co-activity as key support behaviors. PURPOSE: This study aims to model these parental support behaviors as well as family demographics as mediators of mothers' perceptions of child physical activity using theory of planned behavior (TPB) across two 6-month waves of longitudinal data. METHOD: A representative sample of Canadian mothers (N = 1253) with children aged 5 to 13 years of age completed measures of TPB, support behaviors, and child physical activity. RESULTS: Autoregressive structural equation models showed that intention and perceived behavioral control explained support behaviors, yet child age (inverse relationship) and family income were independent predictors. The three support behaviors explained 19-42 % of the variance in child physical activity between participants, but analyses of change showed much smaller effects. CONCLUSIONS: Mothers' support behaviors are related to perceived child physical activity, but support is dependent on perception of control, child age, and family income.