Modeling and analysis of psychological mechanism for preventive behaviors against the COVID-19

Abstract Background The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed human life style. People all over the world are still on the way to establish “New Normal”. The purpose of this study was to construct a cognitive model that predicts preventive behaviors against the infectious disease. Methods A total of 3,000 Japanese respondents aged from 18 to 86 years participated in a web survey in January 2021. The data of 2,913 respondents (1,633 males and 1,280 females) were eligible for analysis. The following information regarding cognitive characteristics was assessed: 1) Cognitive reflection ability (Frederick, 2005), 2) Experiential thinking style (Pacini & Epstein, 1999), 3) Germ aversion (Duncan et al., 2009). In addition to those characteristics, the participants were asked to answer 6 items to rate their preventive behaviors against the COVID-19, such as keeping social distance and wearing a mask. A structural equation modeling technique was used to test the causal relationships among the measures. We hypothesized that experiential thinking style and germ aversion would mediate the causal link between cognitive reflection ability and preventive behaviors. Results Correlation analyses indicated that cognitive reflection ability was negatively associated with experiential thinking style, whereas experiential thinking style was negatively associated with germ aversion. Furthermore, the higher germ aversion was, the more the participants enforced the covid-19 preventive behaviors. Parameter estimation of the causal model using the measures by the bootstrap method indicated that the model acceptably fit the data with CFI of 0.997, TLI of 0.996, and RMSEA of 0.008 (95% CI = 0.004:0.011). Conclusions The findings of the study suggest that there is a cognitive psychological process that induces preventive behaviors against the COVID-19. The results should be useful to improve public health interventions for future pandemics. Key messages • A web survey was conducted for 3,000 Japanese adults to construct a cognitive model that predicts preventive behaviors against the COVID-19. • The structural equation modeling indicated that the participants’ experiential thinking style and germ aversion mediated the causal link between cognitive reflection ability and preventive behaviors.


Background:
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed human life style. People all over the world are still on the way to establish ''New Normal''. The purpose of this study was to construct a cognitive model that predicts preventive behaviors against the infectious disease.

Methods:
A total of 3,000 Japanese respondents aged from 18 to 86 years participated in a web survey in January 2021. The data of 2,913 respondents (1,633 males and 1,280 females) were eligible for analysis. The following information regarding cognitive characteristics was assessed: 1) Cognitive reflection ability (Frederick, 2005), 2) Experiential thinking style (Pacini & Epstein, 1999), 3) Germ aversion (Duncan et al., 2009). In addition to those characteristics, the participants were asked to answer 6 items to rate their preventive behaviors against the COVID-19, such as keeping social distance and wearing a mask. A structural equation modeling technique was used to test the causal relationships among the measures. We hypothesized that experiential thinking style and germ aversion would mediate the causal link between cognitive reflection ability and preventive behaviors.

Results:
Correlation analyses indicated that cognitive reflection ability was negatively associated with experiential thinking style, whereas experiential thinking style was negatively associated with germ aversion. Furthermore, the higher germ aversion was, the more the participants enforced the covid-19 preventive behaviors. Parameter estimation of the causal model using the measures by the bootstrap method indicated that the model acceptably fit the data with CFI of 0.997, TLI of 0.996, and RMSEA of 0.008 (95% CI = 0.004:0.011).

Conclusions:
The findings of the study suggest that there is a cognitive psychological process that induces preventive behaviors against the COVID-19. The results should be useful to improve public health interventions for future pandemics. Key messages: A web survey was conducted for 3,000 Japanese adults to construct a cognitive model that predicts preventive behaviors against the COVID-19. The structural equation modeling indicated that the participants' experiential thinking style and germ aversion mediated the causal link between cognitive reflection ability and preventive behaviors.

Introduction:
Many consequences resulted from the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, which have disrupted our economic, social and medical world. This allowed us to measure and assess the hospitalisation costs regarding the COVID-19 disease at Martini Hospital in Turin, one of the hospitals entirely committed to the COVID-19 care, between January and June 2021.

Methods:
In this single center retrospective study, we collected and analysed cost data on patients admitted at Martini Hospital in the time frame of January-June 2021 and compared the analysis with the same period in 2020, at a time when the hospital was not dedicated to Covid-19 patients. Cost data included full-time and temporary employees salaries, drugs, medical and non-medical supplies and equipment and facility utilities. We then estimated the cost per treated COVID-19 episode, in comparison with the cost per any desease including Covid-19.

Results:
The first 6 months of 2021 registered 2,136 hospital discharges, while same period in 2020 counted 4376. The mean duration of the hospital stay was 7,67 days in 2020 and 12,83 in 2021. The average charge per treated episode doubled (+52,5%) from Euros 8997 in 2020 to Euros 19026 in 2021. The mean revenue increased of 35% from Euros 3280 in 2020 to Euros 5041 in 2021. This is due to the major complexity of care required for Covid patients. As it is, in 2021 the average complexity index of 2.13 while in 2020 it was 1.39.

Conclusions:
Clinical management and treatment of COVID-19 economically strain the European health-care systems. The study of COVID-19 treatment costs, and their differences between 2020 and 2021 suggests an economic challenge for the entire Italian health system and emphasises the necessity to avoid the recurrence of such an economic impact by implementing effective infection prevention and control policies. Key messages: The Covid-19 pandemic has been straining both the European health and economic systems. Studying the Covid-19 expenditures allows to frame unexpected new challenges regarding health-care systems.
Abstract citation ID: ckac131.072 Is it really possible to leave sars-cov-2 outside the door?