The roles of risk perception, negative emotions and perceived efficacy in the association between COVID-19 infection cues and preventive behaviors: a moderated mediation model.

Preventive behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic are especially critical to the protection of individuals whose family members or acquaintances have been infected. However, limited research has explored the influence of infection cues on preventive behaviors. This study proposed an interaction model of environment-cognitive/affective-behavior to elucidate the mechanism by which infection cues influence preventive behaviors and the roles of risk perception, negative emotions, and perceived efficacy in that influence. To explore the relationships among these factors, we conducted a cross-sectional online survey in 34 provinces in China during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 26,511 participants responded to the survey, and 20,205 valid responses (76.2%) were obtained for further analysis. The moderated mediation results show that infection cues positively predicted preventive behaviors in a manner mediated by risk perception and negative emotions. Moreover, perceived efficacy moderated the influence of infection cues not only on preventive behaviors but also on risk perception and negative emotions. The higher the perceived efficacy, the stronger these influences were. These findings validated our model, which elucidates the mechanisms underlying the promoting effect of infection cues on preventive behaviors during the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. The implications of these results for the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond are discussed.

The mechanism of governments' and individuals' influence on protective behaviours during the second wave of COVID-19: a multiple mediation model.

Background: The SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to spread and resurge globally with signs of a second wave, despite actions by governments to curb the COVID-19 pandemic. However, evidence-based strategies to combat COVID-19 recurrence are poorly documented. Objective: To reveal how governments and individuals should act to effectively cope with future waves, this study proposed a preventive model of COVID-19 resurgence. Method: A questionnaire survey was conducted among 1,137 residents of Beijing, where the epidemic reoccurred. Structural equation model was used to explore the mechanism among government intervention, perceived efficacy, positive emotions, posttraumatic growth (PTG) and protective behaviours. Results: Data analysis revealed that during COVID-19 resurgence, government intervention could directly and indirectly influence protective behaviours through individual factors (i.e. perceived efficacy, positive emotions), and PTG could mediate the indirect pathway to protective behaviours. Conclusions: These findings implied that government intervention needs to be integrated with individual factors to effectively control repeated COVID-19 outbreaks.

Antecedentes: El virus SARS-CoV-2 continúa propagándose y resurgiendo a nivel mundial con signos de una segunda ola, a pesar de las acciones de los gobiernos para frenar la pandemia de COVID-19. Sin embargo, las estrategias basadas en evidencia para combatir la recurrencia de COVID-19 están pobremente documentadas.Objetivo: Para revelar cómo deben actuar los gobiernos y las personas para hacer frente de manera efectiva a futuras olas, este estudio propuso un modelo preventivo del resurgimiento de COVID-19.Método: Se realizó una encuesta entre 1.137 residentes de Beijing, donde la epidemia volvió a ocurrir. Se utilizó un modelo de ecuación estructural para explorar el mecanismo entre la intervención del gobierno, la eficacia percibida, las emociones positivas, el crecimiento postraumático (CPT) y las conductas protectoras.Resultados: El análisis de datos reveló que durante el resurgimiento de COVID-19, la intervención del gobierno podría influir directa e indirectamente en los comportamientos de protección a través de factores individuales (es decir, eficacia percibida, emociones positivas), y CPT podría mediar en el camino indirecto hacia los comportamientos de protección.Conclusiones: Estos hallazgos implicaron que la intervención del gobierno debe integrarse con factores individuales para controlar de manera efectiva los brotes repetidos de COVID-19.

Personal Care and Household Cleaning Product Use among Pregnant Women and New Mothers during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This study examined product use among pregnant women and new mothers in New York City during the COVID-19 pandemic (July 2020-June 2021). Women reported use of personal care and household cleaning products within the previous month, changes in antibacterial product use, receipt of healthcare provider advice, and opinions on environmental chemicals (n = 320). On average, women used 15 personal care products and 7 household cleaning products. Non-Hispanic Black women used nearly two more personal care products; non-Hispanic Black women, those with a college degree, and essential workers used 1-3 more household cleaning products. Women who were Hispanic or reported their race and ethnicity as Other were two times more likely to use antibacterial personal care products. Non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, and women who reported their race and ethnicity as Other were 1.5 times more likely to increase antibacterial product use during the pandemic. Nearly all women agreed that environmental chemicals pose health risks and are impossible to avoid, while less than one quarter received advice regarding product use. Product use is a modifiable source of chemical exposures. Results from this study suggest that women may have increased their product use during the pandemic. Healthcare providers may use the current focus on health hygiene to promote discussion and assessment of environmental chemical exposures with patients.

The association between intolerance of uncertainty and Internet addiction during the second wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: A multiple mediation model considering depression and risk perception.

Repeated outbreaks of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have forced people to shift most of their work and life activities from offline to online, leading to a growing problem of Internet dependence and even Internet addiction. However, the mechanism of the association between COVID-19-related intolerance of uncertainty (COVID-19 IU) and Internet addiction during the second wave of COVID-19 is still unclear. The current study explored the association between COVID-19 IU and Internet addiction as mediated by depression and risk perception based on the Uncertainty-Depression-Perception-Addiction model (UDPA). A total of 1,137 adult participants were recruited, and COVID-19 IU, depression, risk perception, Internet addiction, and demographic variables were analyzed. The results showed that COVID-19 IU was significantly and positively associated with Internet addiction and that this relationship was mediated in parallel by depression and risk perception. Our findings further extend the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model from the perspective of applicability in the unique context of COVID-19. Furthermore, the study suggests that individuals could decrease their dependence on the Internet to prevent Internet addiction during the second wave of the pandemic through effective interventions that include lowering COVID-19 IU, improving emotion regulation, and developing reasonable perceptions of risk.

Numerical Investigation on the Droplet Dispersion inside a Bus and the Infection Risk Prediction

COVID-19 can be easily transmitted to passengers by inhaling exhaled droplets from the infected person in a bus. Therefore, studying droplet dispersion would provide further insight into the mechanism of virus transmission and predict the risk of infection among passengers on a bus. In this research, a bus equipped with air-conditioning was employed as the research object. To determine the dispersion path, concentration distribution, and escape time of the droplets, computational fluid dynamic (CFD) was applied to simulate the flow field and the droplets' dispersion. The effect of the air supply rate, the location of vents, and the location of infected persons on the dispersion were discussed. Based on the distribution of droplets in the cabin calculated by CFD, a superposition method was used to determine the number of virus particles inhaled by every individual passenger over a four-hour journey. Then, infection risk was assessed by the Wells-Riley equation for all the passengers in the cabin after the whole journey. The results show that the distribution of droplets in the cabin is greatly influenced by the location of the infected person, and the airflow pattern is highly associated with the air supply rate and the location of vents. The infection risk of passengers located at the droplet dispersion path and the distance from the infected persons less than 2.2 m is over 10%. The increase in the air supply rate could speed up the spread of the droplets but at the same time, it could reduce the infection risk.

Effects of Logotherapy-Based Mindfulness Intervention on Internet Addiction among Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: The global outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) has seriously affected people's work and lives. Disaster-related traumatic stress events increase the risk of substance abuse. Therefore, the COVID-19 outbreak, as a stress event, inevitably has a negative impact on Chinese adolescents with Internet addiction. METHODS: In 2020, 1787 copies of the questionnaire were randomly distributed among adolescents aged 12-16 years in three communities in Shandong Province, China. Among the respondents, 121 Internet addicts voluntarily participated and were divided into the experiment group (60 members) and the control group (61 members). Logotherapy-based mindfulness intervention was carried out on the experiment group. The effects of the intervention were analyzed after eight weeks of intervention. RESULTS: After the intervention, significant decreases occurred in the scores of Internet addiction and its five dimensions in the experiment group (P < 0.05), thereby implying better invention effects in the experiment group than the control group. The experiment group exhibited an increase in the positive coping score and a decrease in the negative coping score (P < 0.05). Significant decreases were found in the anxiety and depression scores in the experiment group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Logotherapy-based mindfulness intervention can significantly reduce the degree of Internet addiction among adolescents during the COVID-19 period, improve their positive emotions, reduce their negative emotions, and alleviate the degree of anxiety and depression in adolescents.

Intolerance of COVID-19-Related Uncertainty and Negative Emotions among Chinese Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model of Risk Perception, Social Exclusion and Perceived Efficacy.

The uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated negative emotions, especially among adolescents, who feel unable to tolerate the uncertainty of the epidemic. However, the mechanism by which the intolerance of COVID-19-related uncertainty (COVID-19 IU) affects negative emotions in adolescents remains unclear. This study explored the underlying mechanism from COVID-19 IU to negative emotions using a moderated mediation model in adolescents. In total, 3037 teenagers completed a cross-sectional survey including measures of COVID-19 IU, risk perception, social exclusion, perceived efficacy, and negative emotions. The results showed that COVID-19 IU positively predicted negative emotions and that risk perception and social exclusion mediated this relationship. In addition, both the direct effect of COVID-19 IU on negative emotions and the mediating effect of risk perception on this relationship were moderated by perceived efficacy; in particular, COVID-19 IU had a greater impact on negative emotions among adolescents with lower levels of perceived efficacy. These findings suggest that COVID-19 IU is closely associated with negative emotions among adolescents and that effective measures should be taken to enable adolescents to improve their perceived efficacy and develop a reasonable perception of risk, help them eliminate the stigma of the disease, and strengthen their connections with society.

Sustainability approaches to Chinese landscape architecture

Parks, gardens, and recreation areas play a vital role since they significantly improve the overall health of citizens, help meet people's needs for social interaction, and provide residents with safe outdoor activities in a green environment, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. China has a rich cultural heritage, namely, sustainable national reserves, parks, and gardens. Despite numerous studies dedicated to the sustainability of landscape architecture, there is a lack of research on sustainability approaches to Chinese landscape architecture, including the historical background. By way of the qualitative comparative analysis of several Chinese parks, the study revealed that Chinese traditional and modern landscape design and construction correspond to six sustainability approaches to landscape architecture: environment, economic, equity, aesthetics, experience, and ethics. The methods and results of the study can be applied by scientists to research sustainability approaches to landscape architecture in other countries and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Interdisciplinary Science Reviews is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Analysis of epidemic characteristics of COVID-19 clusters in Chenzhou, Hunan Province

Objective: To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of 8 clusters of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Chenzhou City, and provide scientific basis for epidemic prevention and control.

The Effects of Governmental and Individual Predictors on COVID-19 Protective Behaviors in China: A Path Analysis Model.

The COVID-19 pandemic has plunged the world into a crisis. To contain this crisis, it is essential to build full cooperation between the government and the public. However, it is unclear which governmental and individual factors are determinants and how they interact with protective behaviors against COVID-19. To resolve this issue, this study builds a multiple mediation model. Findings show that government emergency public information such as detailed pandemic information and positive risk communication had greater impact on protective behaviors than rumor refutation and supplies. Moreover, governmental factors may indirectly affect protective behaviors through individual factors such as perceived efficacy, positive emotions, and risk perception. These findings suggest that systematic intervention programs for governmental factors need to be integrated with individual factors to achieve effective prevention and control of COVID-19 among the public.

A predictive model for COVID-19 spreading

As the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, it is greatly significant to accurately predict the disease's incoming trend. Herein, we performed a stage-rolling Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Recovered (SEIR) model to measure the evolution of the basic reproduction number of COVID-19, based on the number of confirmed infections announced by the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China. We assumed that the infected number under the spreading of infectious diseases will generally experience two different stages. In the first stage, due to the public's ignorance of the severity and harmfulness of the disease, the infected population grows exponentially and the process of disease transmission can be considered as the classic SEIR model with a constant basic reproduction number. Consequently, with limited awareness of the epidemic situation, there is a lack of effective preventive measures to control disease transmission. In the second stage, various control measures and medical resources are introduced in succession by the government, as well as the public gradually takes effective preventions (e.g. keep social distance and wear masks) based on the knowledge of the disease transmission. Collectively, the infected population grows much slower than the first stage. We performed a stage-rolling SEIR model, in which the basic reproduction number changes every day. Based on this model, the number of daily basic reproduction is estimated from the daily new infection number. We found that the daily basic reproduction number is expected to decline continually until it is less than 1, which means the eradication of the disease. Leveraging the evolution of the basic reproduction number, we extrapolate the incoming daily basic reproduction number, based on which we further predict the incoming trend of COVID-19 spreading in terms of the daily infection number. Our predictive model estimates that at the end of the epidemic, the total number of infections in China is nearly 14000 except for Hubei Province, and 32000 except for Wuhan city. We also found that in most parts of China, the number of newly confirmed infections increases linearly rather than exponentially before the day of "Wuhan travel restrictions", implying that the prevention and containing the infected people from Wuhan at the eve of the Spring Festival has been effective from the beginning.