A health communication campaign designed to improve study habits and wellness: A feasibility study.

BACKGROUND: Academic success and retention remain priorities on college campuses. Excessive cell phone use, test anxiety, and poor sleep habits are all associated with negative academic performance. OBJECTIVE: To assess college students' perceptions of a health communication campaign designed to improve study habits and wellness behaviors during exams. METHOD: Researchers used a cross-sectional research design to assess participants' (n = 264) perceptions of the study tip messages. Linear regressions were conducted to determine if the number of messages read was predictive of readiness to change. RESULTS: Nearly all participants agreed that the messages were appealing (84.4%), believable (89.8%), relevant (91.5%), provided useful information (91.5%) and a good reminder of how to study (87.1%). Students who reported reading more messages indicated a higher level of readiness to improve their study habits (F(1,219) = 8.89, p = .003, R2 = .04). CONCLUSIONS: Students found the messages useful; their intentions to study increased the more they were exposed to messages.

Handwashing Message Type Predicts Behavioral Intentions in the United States at the Beginning of the Global COVID-19 Pandemic.

Handwashing has been widely recommended to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Despite this, handwashing behavior remains low in the general public. Social marketing has been employed as a successful health promotion strategy for changing many health behaviors in the past. The present study examines if message framing influences the effectiveness of a handwashing health promotion messages at the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a between-subjects cross-sectional experiment, participants (N = 344) in the United States were randomly assigned to view one of four handwashing messages or a control message before completing self-report measures of attitudes, emotions, readiness to change, and behavioral intentions around handwashing. Simple handwashing messages were presented with different framings, including a simple exchange message, a gain message, a social norm appeal, and a guilt appeal. Results revealed that message type influenced handwashing behavioral intentions and emotions. Post-hoc comparisons revealed that the simple exchange message produced significantly higher intentions than other messages and that only the simple exchange message significantly differed from the control message on emotions regarding handwashing. Mediational analyses showed handwashing emotions fully mediated the relationship between messaging and handwashing intentions. This mediation effect was moderated by age, such that it occurred for the younger and middle age participants, but not older participants. These results suggest that even simple, brief, and easily conveyable messages can positively impact behavioral intentions around handwashing during the early stages of a health crisis. Consistent with recent research comparing affective and cognitive pathways for health behavior, the mediational analysis suggests that effect of the simple exchange message on intentions was due to increased positive emotions around handwashing.

Determinants of safety-focused product purchasing in the United States at the beginning of the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Public preparation for the COVID-19 pandemic was widely covered in the media due to its intensity and fast-pace. While some individuals prepared with personal safety supplies such as soap and hand sanitizer, many others did not purchase such preparatory products. There are many health and safety benefits to quick engagement and emergency preparedness in a pandemic, and it is important to identify those who conduct these behaviors. The present study examined who engaged in preparatory purchasing of safety and health care products during the early stages of the spread of COVID-19 and what stimulated this action. Results of a cross-sectional study (N = 344) indicates that possessing, or uncertainty about possessing a COVID-19 risk factor (but not differences in age, gender, race, or income), increased purchasing of preparatory health and safety products. Also, in line with past research on risk, affect, and behavior, worry mediated this relationship. Further, gender moderated the relationship between worry and purchasing, such that worry increased product purchasing for men, who were initially low in worry, but not for women. This study lends additional support to worry as a mediator between risk and safety-related behavior and has implications for understanding factors related to preparatory purchasing of health care products during pandemics.

The Role of Attitudes, Affect, and Income in Predicting COVID-19 Behavioral Intentions.

Handwashing is important in preventing infectious diseases like COVID-19. The current public health emergency has required rapid implementation of increased handwashing in the general public; however, rapidly changing health behavior, especially on this scale, is difficult. This study considers attitudes and affective responses to handwashing as possible factors predicting COVID-19 related changes to handwashing behavior, future intentions, and readiness to change during the early stages of the pandemic in the United States. Income was explored as a potential moderator to these relationships. To explore these issues, data from 344 community participants were analyzed. Results indicate that stronger affective responses toward handwashing relate to increases in handwashing since the outbreak of COVID-19, and both attitudes and affect uniquely predict handwashing intentions. Income significantly moderated the relationship between affect and readiness to change. Those with low income were more influenced by both affective responses and attitudes. These results suggest messages targeting both cognitions and affective responses are needed to increase the handwashing behavior during a global pandemic and these variables are critical in increasing readiness to change in low-income individuals.