Positive effects of COVID-19 on food preparation and expenditure habits: a comparative study across three countries.

OBJECTIVE: This study seeks to empirically investigate how the changing eating habits affect health habits within three countries with entirely different cultures and diets to understand to what extent the pandemic may be responsible for these changes. DESIGN: Specifically, a questionnaire was conducted in China, Portugal and Turkey in early 2021. A series of statistical analyses were performed to identify how changes in individuals' eating habits have influenced their diets, considering the pandemic context and the varying cultural contexts where this research was performed. SETTING: A structured questionnaire form was developed and uploaded to an online platform with unique links for automatic distribution to respondents in each country. Data for the main survey were gathered between 3 January and 1 February 2021. PARTICIPANTS: Using snowball sampling, the authors leveraged their social networks by asking friends and colleagues to distribute the survey to potentially interested individuals. This distribution was stratified accordingly to the distribution of the population. The authors ultimately collected 319 useable surveys from China, 351 from Portugal and 449 from Turkey. RESULTS: The pandemic inspired healthier food habits, mostly because people have additional time to cook, shop differently for food and spend more money on groceries. CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests that aside from cultural values and dietary habits, the available time and the fear of the pandemic most explained the new eating habits. Several implications are provided for researchers and overall society in these three countries.

Impacts of COVID-19 on changing patterns of household food consumption: An intercultural study of three countries.

In light of COVID-19's effects on individuals' social, economic, political, and psychological values, this paper aims to investigate the pandemic's role in possible changes to people's food consumption and meal habits in three countries, namely China, Portugal, and Turkey. The sample includes individuals from the three countries, exploratory factor analysis and non-parametric tests were used to test the differences. Results suggest that coronavirus has played a strong part in altering households' food consumption and meal habits within these countries. The pandemic has particularly led to greater consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables and spending more time eating meals at home. Portugal appears to be consuming more seafood, bread, and butter whereas China features higher consumption of rice and meat products; Turkey is consuming more meat and eggs. The study closes with a set of recommendations for the society and future research.

Mental health consequences of COVID-19 media coverage: the need for effective crisis communication practices.

During global pandemics, such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), crisis communication is indispensable in dispelling fears, uncertainty, and unifying individuals worldwide in a collective fight against health threats. Inadequate crisis communication can bring dire personal and economic consequences. Mounting research shows that seemingly endless newsfeeds related to COVID-19 infection and death rates could considerably increase the risk of mental health problems. Unfortunately, media reports that include infodemics regarding the influence of COVID-19 on mental health may be a source of the adverse psychological effects on individuals. Owing partially to insufficient crisis communication practices, media and news organizations across the globe have played minimal roles in battling COVID-19 infodemics. Common refrains include raging QAnon conspiracies, a false and misleading "Chinese virus" narrative, and the use of disinfectants to "cure" COVID-19. With the potential to deteriorate mental health, infodemics fueled by a kaleidoscopic range of misinformation can be dangerous. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of research on how to improve crisis communication across media and news organization channels. This paper identifies ways that legacy media reports on COVID-19 and how social media-based infodemics can result in mental health concerns. This paper discusses possible crisis communication solutions that media and news organizations can adopt to mitigate the negative influences of COVID-19 related news on mental health. Emphasizing the need for global media entities to forge a fact-based, person-centered, and collaborative response to COVID-19 reporting, this paper encourages media resources to focus on the core issue of how to slow or stop COVID-19 transmission effectively.