From plaster casts to picket lines: Public support for industrial action in the National Health Service in England.

This paper explores public sentiment towards strike action among healthcare workers, as a result of their perceived inadequate pay. By analysing survey data collected in England between 2022 and 2023, the study focuses on NHS nurses and junior doctors, due to their critical role in delivering essential public services. Results indicate higher public support for strikes by nurses and junior doctors compared to other professions such as postal workers, teachers, rail workers, airport workers, civil servants and university lecturers. However, variation in support for strikes by healthcare workers is observed across societal segments. Significant disparities in support are linked to individual political affiliations, left-right ideological positions and trust in the NHS. In short, nonconservative voters, individuals leaning towards left-wing politics and those with greater trust in the NHS demonstrate higher likelihoods of supporting strikes by health workers. These findings carry implications for future strike decisions and highlight specific target groups for enhanced communication efforts to garner increased public support.

Advancing Transportation Equity and Safety Through Autonomous Vehicles.

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death in the United States, and disproportionately impact communities of color. Replacing human control with automated vehicles (AVs) holds the potential to reduce crashes and save lives. The benefits of AVs, including automated shuttles, buses, or cars could extend beyond safety to include improvements in congestion, reductions in emissions, and increased access to mobility, particularly for vulnerable populations. However, AVs have not attained the level of public trust that has been expected, given their potential to save lives and increase access to mobility. Public opinion surveys have highlighted safety and security concerns as reasons for this lack of confidence. In this study, we present the findings of an experiment we conducted to actively shift mindsets on AVs toward advancing health equity. We demonstrate through a nationally representative sample of 2265 U.S. adults that the public support for AVs can be improved by expanding their scope of application to include advancing social benefit. The survey began with questions on respondent's support for AVs based on a priori knowledge and beliefs. Consistent with prior surveys, baseline support (strong support and some degree of support) was low at 26.4% (95% confidence interval 24.0-29.0). After introducing information about how AVs could be used to provide mobility for older adults, those with limited income, or the vision-impaired, respondents were asked to reassess their support for AVs. Support significantly increased to include the majority of respondents. By prioritizing the deployment of AVs to serve individuals and communities in greatest need of mobility, AVs would not only demonstrate compelling social value by reducing disparities but would also gain widespread public support among the U.S. public.

Overcoming public resistance to carbon taxes: A cost-efficient solution built on a pre-existing reward-based climate policy.

A carbon tax is effective at curbing carbon emissions, but it is met with low public support due to its high personal cost. Investigations have been conducted to reform carbon tax design to ease the burden on individuals by providing economic compensation, but the cost for governments is high. We propose a new cost-efficient solution by introducing people to a pre-existing reward-based climate policy to create a sense of economic compensation. Across three experiments, we show that the presence of a pre-existing reward-based climate policy increases participants' support for a carbon tax, especially when the innate connection between the two policies is made salient and people regard the reward as compensation for the tax. In contrast, if people are distracted from sensing this interrelationship, support for the tax does not differ from when it is introduced alone. Applicability of this approach was tested under different conditions where the pressure to reduce carbon emission is either high or low.

Public support for smoke-free private indoor and public outdoor areas in the Netherlands: A trend analysis from 2018-2022.

INTRODUCTION: In addition to smoke-free policies in indoor public and workplaces, governments increasingly implement smoke-free policies at beaches, in parks, playgrounds and private cars ('novel smoke-free policies'). An important element in the implementation of such policies is public support. In the context of the ambition of the Netherlands to reach a smoke-free generation by 2040, we investigated temporal changes in public support for novel smoke-free policies. METHODS: We analyzed annual cross-sectional questionnaires in a representative sample of the Dutch population from 2018 to 2022. Multivariable logistic regression was applied to model public support for each smoke-free policy area as a function of time (calendar year), smoking status, gender, and socioeconomic status. Interaction terms were added for time with smoking status and with socioeconomic status. RESULTS: A total of 5582 participant responses were included. Between 2018 and 2022, support increased most for smoke-free policies regarding train platforms (+16%), theme parks (+12%), beaches (+10%), and terraces (+10%). In 2022, average support was higher than 65% for all categories of smoke-free places and highest for private cars with children (91%). Regression analyses indicated significant increases in support over time within each category of smoke-free places (adjusted odds ratio, AOR between 1.09 and 1.17 per year), except smoke-free private cars with children (AOR=0.97; 95% CI: 0.89-1.05). Regardless of smoking status, support was high for places where children often go. CONCLUSIONS: Support for novel smoke-free places in the Netherlands is high and increasing, in particular for places frequented by children. This indicates the potential to implement such measures in the Netherlands.

Looking back to look forward-the history of VAD laws in Australia and future law reform in the Australian territories.

Taking one's own life or attempting to do so has long been decriminalised in Australia. Aiding, counselling, or inciting another person to kill him or herself, however, remains a criminal offence. Yet, all six Australian States have now introduced laws allowing assistance in dying under certain circumstances. This article traces the recent history of Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) laws in Australia. It examines the introduction of the world's first assisted dying legislation in the Northern Territory in 1995 followed by the Federal Government's 1997 deprivation of the Territories' power to legislate on assisted dying invalidating said law. It further considers the fifty-seven failed Bills attempting to achieve law reform in this context in Australian jurisdictions between 1993 and 2017 with a view to identifying what factors may have contributed to the continuing lack of success. This article then outlines the rapid introduction of VAD laws in all six Australian States decriminalising VAD over the span of only 5 years. It ponders what may have changed to bring about this law reform. This article closes by contemplating potential future law reform in the Australian Territories, which have been reinstated with jurisdiction to legislate on VAD in December 2022.

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.

The impact of coastal realignment on the availability of ecosystem services: gains, losses and trade-offs from a local community perspective.

Coastal realignment is the procedure of repositioning or removing coastal defense structures to restore tidal flooding and facilitate the development of intertidal ecosystems in a previously reclaimed area from the sea. A key policy objective of coastal realignment is to increase ecosystem services provided by intertidal ecosystems and thereby contribute to human well-being. However, the social response to coastal realignment is often negative, raising the question as to what extent communities living nearby project locations recognize, value and benefit from the goods and services provided by restored intertidal ecosystems. In this study, we examine public perceptions of ecosystem services gains, losses and trade-offs associated with coastal realignment. We hereby focus on three coastal realignment case study locations in the Southwest delta, the Netherlands. Questionnaires were administered in nearby villages and the collected data (N = 261) were analyzed using random forest regression models. A notable outcome of this study is that local communities often consider coastal realignment interventions to decrease rather than increase the availability of ecosystem services. This points to a discrepancy between how coastal realignment is viewed from a policy perspective and a local community perspective. Changes in the availability of cultural ecosystem services were found to have the highest impact on the level of support for coastal realignment, while the importance attached to provisioning, regulating and supporting ecosystem services was notably lower. In consequence, to increase public support, it will be essential to minimize the loss of cultural ecosystem services, or better yet, find ways to increase cultural ecosystem services through coastal realignment, for instance by creating opportunities for recreation and tourism.

Understanding public support for COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures over time: Does it wear out?

Background: COVID-19 mitigation measures intend to protect public health, but their adverse psychological, social, and economic effects weaken public support. Less favorable trade-offs may especially weaken support for more restrictive measures. Support for mitigation measures may also differ between population subgroups who experience different benefits and costs, and decrease over time, a phenomenon termed "pandemic fatigue." Methods: We examined self-reported support for COVID-19 mitigation measures in the Netherlands over 12 consecutives waves of data collection between April 2020 and May 2021 in an open population cohort study. Participants were recruited through community panels of the 25 regional public health services, and through links to the online surveys advertised on social media. The 54,010 unique participants in the cohort study on average participated in 4 waves of data collection. Most participants were female (65%), middle-aged [57% (40-69 years)], highly educated (57%), not living alone (84%), residing in an urban area (60%), and born in the Netherlands (95%). Results: COVID-19 mitigation measures implemented in the Netherlands remained generally well-supported over time [all scores >3 on 5-point scale ranging 1 (low)-5 (high)]. During the whole period studied, support was highest for personal hygiene measures, quarantine and wearing face masks, high but somewhat lower for not shaking hands, testing and self-isolation, and restricting social contacts, and lowest for limiting visitors at home, and not traveling abroad. Women and higher educated people were more supportive of some mitigation measures than men and lower educated people. Older people were more supportive of more restrictive measures than younger people, and support for more socially restrictive measures decreased most over time in higher educated people or in younger people. Conclusions: This study found no support for pandemic fatigue in terms of a gradual decline in support for all mitigation measures in the first year of the pandemic. Rather, findings suggest that support for mitigation measures reflects a balancing of benefits and cost, which may change over time, and differ between measures and population subgroups.

Young people's support for various forms of e-cigarette regulation in Australia and the UK.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to examine young people's support for e-cigarette policies in two countries with very different e-cigarette regulatory environments - Australia and the UK. METHODS: An online survey was administered to 1,185 15-24 year olds (590 from Australia, 595 from the UK). Survey items assessed demographics, use of vaping and tobacco products, exposure to others' vaping behaviours, exposure to e-cigarette advertising, perceptions of harms associated with e-cigarettes, and support for 14 e-cigarette policies. Frequencies for support were calculated for each policy by country and overall, and a mixed effects negative binomial regression was performed to identify factors associated with support. RESULTS: Majority support was expressed for 10 of the 14 policies in the Australian sample and six in the UK sample. Significantly higher levels support were found among Australian respondents compared to UK respondents for all policies except one where the difference failed to reach statistical significance. Support was strongest for policies relating to preventing access by minors, including warnings on packages, and prohibiting misleading advertising. Support was weakest for policies restricting access to e-cigarettes and flavours. Factors associated with higher levels of support were harm perceptions, never having used e-cigarettes, and older age. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest general support for a broad range of e-cigarette control policies among young people in Australia and the UK, despite very different e-cigarette regulatory environments in these countries. Enhancing awareness of the potential harms associated with e-cigarette use appears to be key to optimising support for the assessed policies among members of this age group.

The COVID-19 pandemic behind bars: Experimental evidence showing higher support for decarceration when framed as risk to correctional staff.

This study examined the effect of framing COVID-19 spread in correctional facilities as impacting imprisoned individuals or impacting correctional staff on public support for decarceration. I employed an experiment in the 2021 Empire State Poll (n = 765) in which participants were randomly assigned to a treatment condition, which highlighted information about the number of COVID-19 cases among imprisoned individuals, or a control condition, which highlighted correctional staff instead. Participants reported how supportive or unsupportive they are of releasing imprisoned individuals to curb the spread of COVID-19. Overall, 35% of New Yorkers supported decarceration. A higher percentage of respondents supported decarceration when the impact on correctional staff was highlighted (40%) relative to imprisoned individuals (31%). There was also higher support among non-Hispanic Black (54%) and Hispanic (51%) participants relative to non-Hispanic White (28%) participants. Within racial/ethnic groups support for decarceration was higher when the impact on correctional staff was highlighted among non-Hispanic Whites, Hispanics, and those of another race, but not among non-Hispanic Blacks where support for decarceration was higher when the impact on imprisoned individuals was highlighted. Inferential analysis using log binomial regression found that the association between treatment condition assignment and support for decarceration was not significant. Public health practitioners and policy makers should consider leveraging the higher support associated with concerns over the health and wellbeing of correction staff found among some racial/ethnic groups to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Customer support for nudge strategies to promote fruit and vegetable intake in a university food service.

BACKGROUND: Diverse nudges, also known as choice architectural techniques, have been found to increase fruit and vegetable (FV) selection in both lab and field studies. Such strategies are unlikely to be adopted in mass eating settings without clear evidence of customer support; confirmation in specific contexts is needed. Inspired by the Taxonomy of Choice Architecture, we assessed support for eight types of nudging to increase the choice of FV-rich foods in a university food service. We also explored whether and to what extent nudge support was associated with perceived effectiveness and intrusiveness. METHODS: An online survey was conducted with students who used on-campus cafeterias. Multiple recruitment methods were used. Participants were given 20 specific scenarios for increasing FV selection and asked about their personal support for each nudge, as well as perceived intrusiveness and effectiveness. General beliefs about healthy eating and nudging were also measured. Results were assessed by repeated measures ANOVA for the 8 nudge types. RESULTS: All nudge scenarios achieved overall favourable ratings, with significant differences among different types of nudging by the 298 respondents. Changing range of options (type B3) and changing option-related consequences (type B4) received the highest support, followed by changing option-related effort (type B2) and making information visible (type A2). Translating information (type A1), changing defaults (type B1) and providing reminders or facilitating commitment (type C) were less popular types of nudging. Providing social reference points (type A3) was least supported. Support for nudge types was positively associated with the belief that food services have a role in promoting healthy eating, perceived importance of FV intake, trustworthiness of the choice architect and female gender. Lastly, support for all types of nudges was positively predicted by perceived effectiveness of each nudge and negatively predicted by perceived intrusiveness above and beyond the contribution of general beliefs about healthy eating and nudging. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from the current study indicate significant differences in support for nudge techniques intended to increase FV selection among university cafeteria users. These findings offer practical implications for food service operators as well as public health researchers.

The Impact on Job-Quality of Firm-Level Support to Innovation: Evidence from Natural Experiment Conditions and Linked Employer-Employee Data in Portugal.

Public support to firm-level investments in innovation is one of the main mechanisms through which the European Union promotes socioeconomic convergence among regions and the creation of quality jobs is considered a necessary condition for the convergence of disadvantaged regional economies. This paper exploits the availability of natural experiment conditions and linked employer-employee microdata in Portugal to offer empirical evidence on the impact on relevant job-quality outcomes of a large EU-cohesion-policy program to support SMEs' innovation investments. The analysis is implemented by means of stratification/coarsened exact matching model, combined with a difference in difference scheme, suitable to the specific impact identification conditions. Our results indicate that the policy intervention in Portugal had a positive impact on job-quality outcomes, with each supported firm generating an average of 4.9 additional standard-working-time jobs, +2.9 skilled jobs, and +2.0 permanent-contract jobs, compared to a counterfactual scenario of no public support. These impacts were at a cost of about 16,100€, 27,100€ and 39,400€ in public subsidies per additional job, respectively. We also estimate that the program impact was responsible for a 2.20€ (+17.8%) increase of the per-hour remuneration. These findings are robust to sensitivity analysis, in terms of alternative matching procedures and comparison groups, and they highlight the fact that increasing job-quality is a policy goal that can be pursued, at a reasonable cost, also by means of cohesion-policy support to innovation aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of SMEs.JEL classification: O1; R5; C23.

Overwhelming Support for Sexual Health Education in U.S. Schools: A Meta-Analysis of 23 Surveys Conducted Between 2000 and 2016.

PURPOSE: Surveys suggest that the general public (i.e., adults or parents) supports sexual health education in schools. However, the number of schools providing sex education continues to decline in the United States. The purpose of this study is to conduct a meta-analysis of U.S.-based representative surveys to provide a pooled estimate of public support for sexual health education delivered in schools. METHODS: A systematic search of three databases (Medline, PsycInfo, and ERIC) was conducted to identify survey measuring adult and parent attitudes toward sexual health education in school between 2000 and 2016. Meta-analyses were conducted in OpenMetaAnalyst via the metaphor package in R using a DerSimonian-Laird random effect models to account for heterogeneity between surveys. RESULTS: A total of 23 citations met study inclusion and exclusion criteria, representing 15 unique probability surveys conducted with the public. Among the included surveys, 14 were nationwide and 11 included parents or an overrepresentation of parents. Across all survey findings, 88.7% (95% confidence interval = 86.2-91.2) of respondents supported sexual health education. Among surveys that only included parents or oversampled for parents, 90.0% (95% confidence interval = 86.5-93.4) supported sexual health education, and among nationally representative surveys, 87.7% (95% confidence interval = 85.1-90.6) of respondents supported sexual health education. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate overwhelming support for sexual health education delivered in schools. Additional research is needed to determine individual differences in support for specific sexual health education topics and skills delivered through classroom-based instruction.

Factors influencing public support for banning gasoline vehicles in newly industrialized countries for the sake of environmental improvement: a case study of China.

In recent years, various countries have put forward Banning Gasoline Vehicle Sales Policy (BGVSP), and the degree of public support for BGVSP is crucial to its design and implementation. Taking China as an example, this study built a policy support index using network crawler technology and natural language processing technology. Then, multi-spatial convergence cross-mapping technology was used to study the interaction between public support and air pollution, electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure, EV technology, and use cost. The results showed that air pollution has a significant impact on public support; public support has a significant impact on the construction of the EV infrastructure and the level of EV technological research, and the use cost of traditional gasoline vehicles has a significant impact on public support. This study investigated the correlations between public support and the factors influencing public support, and the results can be used as a reference for the design and implementation of BGVSP in newly industrialized countries.

Public support for policies to improve population and planetary health: A population-based online experiment assessing impact of communicating evidence of multiple versus single benefits.

BACKGROUND: Effective interventions for reducing the consumption of products that harm population and planetary health often lack public support, impeding implementation. Communicating evidence of policies' effectiveness can increase public support but there is uncertainty about the most effective ways of communicating this evidence. Some policies have multiple benefits such as both improving health and the environment. This study assesses whether communicating evidence of multiple versus single benefits of a policy increases its support. METHOD: Participants (n = 4616) nationally representative of the British population were randomised to one of 24 groups in an online experiment with a 4 × 3 × 2 between-subjects factorial design. The messages that participants viewed differed according to the evidence they communicated (no message, effectiveness for changing behaviour, effectiveness for changing behaviour + one policy benefit, effectiveness for changing behaviour + three policy benefits), type of policy (taxation, availability) and the target behaviour (consumption of energy-dense food, alcohol, or meat). The primary outcome was policy support. RESULTS: In a full factorial ANOVA, there was a significant main effect of communicating evidence of effectiveness on policy support, which was similar across policies and behaviours. Communicating three benefits increased support relative to communicating one benefit (d = 0.15; p = 0.01). Communicating one benefit increased support compared to providing evidence for changing behaviour alone (d = 0.13; p = 0.004) or no message (d = 0.11 p = 0.022). CONCLUSION: Communicating evidence of a policy's benefits increases support for policy action across different behaviours and policies. Presenting multiple benefits of policies enhances public support.

A machine-learning approach to estimating public intentions to become a living kidney donor in England: Evidence from repeated cross-sectional survey data.

Background: Living kidney organ donors offer a cost-effective alternative to deceased organ donation. They enable patients with life-threatening conditions to receive grafts that would otherwise not be available, thereby creating space for other patients waiting for organs and contributing to reducing overall waiting times for organs. There is an emerging consensus that an increase in living donation could contribute even more than deceased donation to reducing inequalities in organ donation between different population sub-groups in England. Increasing living donation is thus a priority for National Health Service Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) in the United Kingdom. Methods: Using the random forest model, a machine learning (ML) approach, this study analyzed eight waves of repeated cross-sectional survey data collected from 2017 to 2021 (n = 14,278) as part of the organ donation attitudinal tracker survey commissioned by NHSBT in England to identify and help predict key factors that inform public intentions to become living donors. Results: Overall, around 58.8% of the population would consider donating their kidney to a family member (50.5%), a friend (28%) or an unknown person (13.2%). The ML algorithm identified important factors that influence intentions to become a living kidney donor. They include, in reducing order of importance, support for organ donation, awareness of organ donation publicity campaigns, gender, age, occupation, religion, number of children in the household, and ethnic origin. Support for organ donation, awareness of public campaigns, and being younger were all positively associated with predicted propensity for living donation. The variable importance scores show that ethnic origin and religion were less important than the other variables in predicting living donor intention. Conclusion: Factors influencing intentions to become a living donor are complex and highly individual in nature. Machine learning methods that allow for complex interactions between characteristics can be helpful in explaining these decisions. This work has identified important factors and subgroups that have higher propensity for living donation. Interventions should target both potential live donors and recipients. Research is needed to explore the extent to which these preferences are malleable to better understand what works and in which contexts to increase live organ donation.

Public support for further regulating smoking, snus and e-cigarettes in Norway, and its associations with risk perceptions and tobacco use.

BACKGROUND: Public support is an indication of the legitimacy of governmental tobacco interventions. Little is known about what it is that shapes the support for various tobacco policy measures. We examine whether there are differences in public support for new measures against smoking, snus, and e-cigarettes in Norway, and whether public support is associated with user status and perceptions of the products' harm potential. DATA AND METHODS: In December 2017, 4,002 people aged between 16 and 89 answered a web-based questionnaire. The sample was randomly drawn from Norstat's web panel, and pre-stratified by gender, age, region, and education in order to obtain an approximate country-representative sample. Respondents were asked to indicate their support for eight possible future measures to further restrict accessibility of tobacco (asked separately with regard to smoking tobacco, snus and e-cigarettes respectively), on a five-point scale from 1 = 'no support' to 5 = 'full support'. We utilized means and t-tests to address differences in support between measures. We then constructed sum scores to assess the total support for regulating each tobacco product and subjected these indexes to linear regression analyses, controlling for background variables. RESULTS: For six of the eight proposed measures, public opinion is less supportive of e-cigarette regulations than of similar regulations for snus and, especially, smoking tobacco. In all three regression models, significant associations with risk perception, user status and gender were maintained after multiple controls. The associations with risk perceptions were stronger for support of snus and e-cigarette regulation than for smoking tobacco. CONCLUSION: Overall, these findings illustrate the key role of risk perceptions in forming public opinions regarding tobacco-preventive regulations and underline the importance of information to ensure that population risk perceptions are accurate.

Seamless support from screening to anti-HCV treatment and HCC/ decompensated cirrhosis: Subsidy programs for HCV elimination.

Viral hepatitis poses a major public health problem in Japan. Chronic viral hepatitis is a progressive liver disease that eventually develops into liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. Since nucleic acid analog therapy for hepatitis B and interferon-free therapy for hepatitis C have made it possible to control the disease status or eliminate the viruses, it is very important that more people receive hepatitis virus tests to confirm the presence of infection at an early stage, and that patients with hepatitis detected by the tests receive appropriate medical care. Currently, the government of Japan is implementing comprehensive measures for hepatitis control based on five key strategies. Moreover, the goal listed in the Basic Guidelines on Hepatitis Measures is to reduce the frequency of progression of hepatitis to cirrhosis or liver cancer through a scheme consisting of testing people for hepatitis, getting those who test positive to visit a medical institution and receive treatment, and providing appropriate and high-quality hepatitis care through specialized medical institutions and regional core centers for the management of liver disease. To achieve the goal, various subsidy programs including an expense subsidy system for hepatitis treatment have been implemented in Japan. It is important for healthcare professionals to have sufficient knowledge of public support for efficient hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related liver disease detection and care.

Modeling state preferences for Covid-19 policies: Insights from the first pandemic summer.

INTRODUCTION: During the COVID-19 pandemic, governments have experimented with a wide array of policies to further public health goals. This research offers an application of multilevel regression with post-stratification (MRP) analysis to assess state-level support for commonly implemented policies during the pandemic. METHODS: We conducted a national survey of U.S. adults using The Harris Poll panel from June 17-29, 2020. Respondents reported their support for a set of measures that were being considered in jurisdictions in the U.S. at the time the survey was fielded. MRP analysis was then used to generate estimates of state-level support. RESULTS: The research presented here suggests generally high levels of support for mask mandates and social distancing measures in June 2020-support that was consistent throughout the United States. In comparison, support for other policies, such as changes to the road environment to create safer spaces for walking and bicycling, had generally low levels of support throughout the country. This research also provides some evidence that higher support for coronavirus-related policies could be found in more populous states with large urban centers, recognizing that there was low variability across states. CONCLUSION: This paper provides a unique application of MRP analysis in the public health field, uncovering noteworthy state-level patterns, and offering several avenues for future research. Future research could examine policy support at a small geographic level, such as by counties, to understand the distribution of support for public policies within states.

Employment Status and Health Literacy in Denmark: A Population-Based Study.

Objectives: Examining whether specific population groups who are not working and those who have an employment have the same health literacy level. Methods: Data were retrieved from a nationally representative cross-sectional study of the Danish population conducted with the health literacy questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q16) in 2016 and 2017. Socio-demographic characteristics were drawn from national registers. Odds ratio for the association between employment status and health literacy was estimated from logistic regression models, adjusted for socio-demographic characteristics. Probability weights were used to adjust for differences in responses. Results: Logistic regression analyses showed that receiving unemployment benefits, social assistance, employment and support allowance, retirement pension and sickness benefit were significantly associated with having inadequate health literacy compared to being employed in any industry. The highest odds ratio for inadequate health literacy was present for receiving unemployment benefit OR = 1.78 (95% CI: 1.23-2.56). Conclusion: Population groups not working and receiving economic public support have higher odds of inadequate health literacy competencies compared to those active in the labor force, considering age and socioeconomic factors. The result contributes to understanding health disparities in connection to occupational situation.