Physiological stress reactivity and recovery: Some laboratory results transfer to daily life.

Stress is a prevalent theme in our daily lives and is related to numerous negative health outcomes. Laboratory research has studied the physiological stress response extensively with objective measures such as vagally-mediated heart rate variability (vmHRV). Recently, the vagal tank theory emerged as a promising approach to predicting adaptive vmHRV levels around stressful events. This study aimed to investigate whether the predictions of the vagal tank theory about vmHRV during stress reactivity and recovery translate into naturalistic stressful events in daily life. Sixty-seven students wore an EcgMove 4 sensor for 4 days to measure vmHRV. Through a combination of device-based and self-report assessment, vmHRV data were segmented into before, during, and after stressful events. VmHRV segments were analyzed with multilevel modeling, accounting for physiological and psychological covariates. VmHRV before stressful events predicted more adaptive vmHRV during the event but not vmHRV recovery afterwards. The results therefore partially support the vagal tank theory's predictions with data from daily life and allow recommendations for future studies of real-world stress reactivity and recovery. The value of intraindividual variations in vmHRV as predictors of adaptive stress response is underscored by these findings and could inform future interventions that seek to increase momentary vmHRV.

Individual and collective protective responses during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in 10 different countries: Results from the EUCLID online survey.

BACKGROUND: In times of unprecedented infectious disease threats, it is essential to understand how to increase individual protective behaviors and support for collective measures. The present study therefore examines factors associated with individual and collective pathways. METHODS: Data was collected through an online survey from 4483 participants (70.8% female, M = 41.2 years) across 10 countries from April 15, 2020 to June 2, 2020 as part of the "EUCLID" project (https://euclid.dbvis.de). Structural equation modeling was used to examine individual and collective pathways across and within countries. RESULTS: Overall, the adoption of individual protective behaviors and support for collective measures were high. Risk perception on the individual level and perceived effectiveness at the collective level were positively associated with both individual protective behaviors and support for collective measures. Furthermore, the model explained considerable variance in individual (40.7%) and collective protective behaviors (40.8%) and was largely replicated across countries. CONCLUSIONS: The study extends previous research by demonstrating that individual risk perception and perceived effectiveness of collective measures jointly affect individual protective health behaviors and support for collective measures. These findings highlight the need to jointly consider a variety of behavioral actions against infectious disease threats, acknowledging interactions between individual and collective pathways.

Mobile intervention to promote correct hand hygiene at key times to prevent COVID-19 in the Swiss adult general population: study protocol of a multiphase optimisation strategy.

INTRODUCTION: Behaviour change is key to the public health measures that have been issued in many countries worldwide to contain COVID-19. Public health measures will only take preventive effect if people adhere to them. Interventions taking health psychology approaches may promote adherence to public health measures. However, evidence from randomised controlled behaviour change trials is scarce during an ongoing pandemic. We aim to use the example of hand washing with soap to optimise and test a digital, theory-based and evidence-based behaviour change intervention to prevent the spread of COVID-19. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This protocol describes the multiphase optimisation strategy for the preparation, optimisation and evaluation of a theory-based and evidence-based intervention delivered via app. The app aims to promote correct hand hygiene at key times in the adult general population. The study will be conducted in German-speaking Switzerland. The preparation phase has identified relevant behavioural determinants of hand hygiene during a pandemic from health behaviour theories and formative research with focus groups (n=8). The optimisation phase will identify the most effective and acceptable combination and sequence of three intervention modules in a parallel randomised trial (n=387) with analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression analysis. Additionally, thematic analysis of qualitative interview data (n=15) will be used to gain insights on the feasibility, usability and satisfaction of the intervention. The evaluation phase will test the optimised intervention against an active control group in a randomised controlled trial (n=205), analysing pre-post differences and 6-month follow-up effects with ANOVA and regression analysis. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The trial was approved by the Cantonal Ethics Commission Bern of the Swiss Association of Research Ethics Committees (protocol ID: 2021-00164). Final results will be presented in peer-reviewed journals and at conferences. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04830761.