The use of fear appeals for pandemic compliance: A systematic review of empirical measurement, fear appeal strategies and effectiveness.

Interventions to pandemic outbreaks are often associated with the use of fear-appeal to trigger behavioral change, especially in public health issues. However, no systematic review exists in the literature on the effectiveness of fear appeal strategies in the context of pandemic compliance. This paper aims at providing systematic literature review that answers the following thought-provoking research questions: (1) What is the standard measurement of fear in relation to pandemics in the existing literature? (2) What are the fear appeal strategies used in the empirical literature? (3) How effective are fear appeal strategies in changing behavior toward adopting pandemic preventive measures? A total of 22 studies were selected from 455 potential studies, following a comprehensive literature search and assessment in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. The findings show that nearly all the available studies on fear measurement used the Likert scale (as the standard approach) with different points of degree and fear appeal strategies such as fear triggers in media channels, print advertisements, and verbal descriptions. Furthermore, most studies conclude that fear appeal is effective in making participants adopt pandemic preventive measures; hence, it is effective for positive behavioral change (the degree of effectiveness depends on gender, population group, etc.), especially when combined with self-efficacy and socio-cultural considerations. Very few studies, however, find an insignificant association, arguably due to the kind and intensity of the fear appeal messages and strategies used.

Impact of COVID-19 on school attendance in South Africa. Analysis of sociodemographic characteristics of learners.

The outbreak of COVID-19 had resulted in the complete closure of schools in nearly all countries across the globe. However, reopening after prolonged closure may adversely affect the school attendance of learners, with long-term implications for life outcomes. Given the limited studies on the subject, this study aims at examining the impact of COVID-19 on the school attendance of learners in South Africa and how this outcome is exacerbated by underlying socioeconomic factors using National Income Dynamics Study-Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey data (NIDS-CRAM). The findings reveal that COVID-19 has led to a sharp drop of 48.2% in the school attendance of learners following the reopening of schools after the state of national disaster-based lockdown. The study has demonstrated that the impact of COVID-19 on the school attendance of learners varies according to socioeconomic factors such as gender, race, geographical area, family size, and the economic status of the learners' parents and provincial location. Sociodemographic characteristics such as African race, coloured race, Asian race, female gender, rural location, large household size, and Eastern Cape are associated with lower school attendance among learners. Based on these findings, educational-based policy needs to include these sociodemographic factors to promote a high school attendance rate among learners. This may include a shift from a blanket approach to geographical, racial, family, and gender-based interventions.

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and Implications for Economic Recovery: Evidence from Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality in South Africa.

The phenomenon of vaccine hesitancy is a growing threat to public health with far-reaching implications. The widening gap between the vaccinated and the proportion of vaccinated people needed for herd immunity raises two critical research questions that are of interest to practitioners, researchers, and policymakers: (1) What determines one's decision to be vaccinated? (2) What is the implication of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy for economic recovery? In this study, we use empirical data in the context of South Africa to investigate factors affecting COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and their implications for economic recovery. Findings reveal key socio-demographic and institutional drivers of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, which include age (the youth are more hesitant), inadequate information on the vaccine (those who perceive they have adequate information are vaccinated), trust issues in government institutions, conspiracy beliefs, vaccine-related factors, and perceived side effects associated with the vaccine. Additionally, an individual's decision to remain hesitant about COVID-19 vaccination has implications for businesses and the economy by limiting movement and trade, increasing unemployment, and causing a resurgence of new variants. Based on the findings, action plans such as information dissemination, convenience vaccination centers, consistent communications, and targeted campaign strategies are recommended for improving vaccine uptake and a positive economic recovery.

Hesitancy of COVID-19 vaccines: Rapid systematic review of the measurement, predictors, and preventive strategies.

Vaccine hesitancy is one of the top ten global health threats and the first threat to fighting COVID-19 through vaccination. With the increasing level of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy amidst the rising level of confirmed cases and death tolls, this paper provides rapid systematic literature reviews on the measurement of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, key determinants and evidence-based strategies to prevent COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. The findings reveal three standard measures of vaccine hesitancy: optional response questions, Likert scale, and linear scale measurements. Factors such as sociodemographic/economic factors, occupational factors, knowledge on the vaccine, vaccine attributes, conspiracy belief and psychological factors are the major predictors of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Evidence-based findings identified measures such as effective education on the vaccine, clear and consistent communication to build public confidence and trust, health education on vaccination and its social benefit, outreach program and targeted messaging to minimize COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy.

Teen motherhood and women's later life outcomes: evidence from South Africa

Background: The pathway from teen motherhood to later life outcomes has received considerable attention in both research and political agenda due to its fundamental and pivotal link to life-course and inter-generational development of mothers and their progenies. Very few studies have however, looked beyond educational and economic outcomes.Data source and methods: This paper uses pooled data from four waves of National Income Dynamic Study (NIDS) survey collected from 2008-2014 in South Africa to investigate the impacts of early motherhood on mothers' later life outcomes using propensity score matching and endogenous treatment techniques which controls for endogeneity. A total of 11203 mothers who have given birth at least once were selected to form the sample with information on their life outcomes, childhood poverty and other background precursors included. The study reveals that teen motherhood has significan negative effects on women's educational attainment (by -5.2years at 0.1% significance level), economic well-being (-19.99% at 0.1% significance level), psychological well-being (by increasing depression score by 5.2 at 0.1% significance level) and life satisfaction (by -1.24 at 0.1% significance level).Results: Based on the results of the study; proactice, reactive and post-active policy interventions, which require the complementary role of policy-makers, government, parents, service prodividers and adolescents, are recommended.Conclusions: The insignificant impact on health related outcomes is arguably because of the sample selection bias casued by the high rates of teenage maternal mortality