Theoretically, self-control can be considered as both a facilitator of habit development and a moderator of whether behavior occurs habitually. However, debate remains on the contexts in which such r...

This paper focuses on the aspects of intersection between the COVID-19 pandemic, Google search queries, and cultural dimensions of countries. Google Trend indices of 138 countries were collected fo...

Promoting individuals' overall health and well-being is important, and understanding the interconnections between daily movement and dietary behaviors may provide insights for developing effective he...

Trust in US physicians and hospitals dropped significantly during COVID-19, affecting vaccination rates across all demographics. Restoring trust is crucial for future public health efforts.

It’s a widely recognized statistic that men, on average, do not live as long as women. In the United States, the life expectancy for an American man hovers around 76 years, while a woman can expect to live about 81 years. However, this disparity isn’t solely due to older men dying earlier; it’s influenced by premature deaths that occur throughout the lifespan.

Background: The ecological momentary intervention (EMI) is one of the most promising digital—primarily mobile—interventions to enhance physical activity (PA) and other health behaviors. It is a combination of ecological momentary assessment (EMA), in which participants are prompted to indicate their momentary states and ongoing behaviors in daily life, and the just-in-time delivery of interventions tailored to the EMA responses. The EMI has typically been implemented in message-based interventions (e.g., activity recommendations tailored to users’ physical locations), but its efficacy and #feasibility have not been sufficiently established because of the variability in design and implementation. Objective: This pilot, two-arm, parallel-group randomized controlled trial aimed to be an exemplar of EMI for improving PA and establish efficacy and #feasibility among adults without a habit of PA. Methods: Forty participants (23 women; mean age=45.40, SD=10.50) were recruited from among community dwellers in northeast Japan and randomly allocated to the EMI or control group. Each participant wore an activity tracker to monitor their daily step count and heart rate for four weeks (fully automated). Simultaneously, they responded to EMA questions about the current weather, location, and social context three times during the daytime and an additional evening question about motivations for PA each day. Only the EMI group received messages tailored to their responses to EMA, recommending more active alternative behaviors suited to EMA-reported contexts. Results: Participants wore a Fitbit device for 90.3% (21.66/24 hours per day) of the study period (SD = 10.0), and no dropouts were observed. The EMI group showed no significant improvement in the self-reported amount of PA (P=.444), step count (P=.239), or motivation for PA (P>.105) compared with the control group. However, the EMI group showed a significantly larger increase in the minutes of 40% heart rate reserve, a measure of moderate or high intensity of PA (M=16.033, 95% CI [3.758, 28.292], P=.017; Cohen’s d=0.20–0.41 for the follow-up weeks). The intervention was rated as marginally useful and satisfactory, and approximately half of the participants expressed a willingness to continue the intervention. The timing of the EMA prompting was considered inappropriate. Conclusions: These findings suggest that the EMI with messages tailored to EMA-reported contexts was not effective in increasing the amount or motivation for PA but may increase the intensity as assessed by the heart rate. The intervention aimed to help individuals implement small but slightly more active behaviors in their daily routine, which may not accompany prominent body movements but may be reflected in the increased heart rate. Marginal #feasibility indicates that the intervention has sufficient scope for improvement, particularly in terms of the prompt timing. Clinical Trial: OSFosf.io/nzkyf; https://osf.io/nzkyf/?view_only=e23804b941dd4843a3ba0902e51fec20

The number of Internet users searching for health-related issues increases significantly every year. The aim of this study was to investigate whether and how the information about health and disease…

Experimental evidence suggests that masculinity threat can push some men toward health-risk behaviors, with the clearest and most consistent effects seen in meat-related food choices. Across 38 experi...

<p xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" dir="auto" id="d7218502e134"> <b>Objective</b> To investigate the impact of transfer cognition on healthy dietary beha...

New research looks at the emotional and physical repercussions of having your brain scanned for early signs of dementia.

Background: #Digital #Health interventions (DHIs) using behavior change techniques (BCTs) show promise in addressing adolescent #Health behaviors, but evidence of their effectiveness across #Health behavior domains remains fragmented and poorly summarized. Objective: This systematic umbrella review synthesized evidence from existing systematic reviews on the effectiveness of BCTs within DHI targeting key adolescent #Health behavior domains: alcohol consumption, tobacco use, physical activity, dietary habits, and obesity management. Methods: We systematically searched PubMed, PsycInfo, Embase, and CINAHL in April 2024 for reviews of DHI for adolescents (10‐19 years old). We coded all identified BCTs using the Behavior Change Technique Taxonomy version 1 (BCTTv1). Data on BCT effectiveness, intervention characteristics, and review quality were extracted and narratively synthesized using AMSTAR-2 (A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews 2). Results: A total of 20 reviews, comprising 224,135 participants, were included. These examined DHIs targeting physical activity (7 reviews), dietary habits (3 reviews), alcohol consumption (2 reviews), combined alcohol and nicotine use (1 review), and obesity management (1 review), with an additional 6 reviews covering multiple #Health behaviors. Across reviews, 65% (13/20) reported statistically significant positive effects on at least one #Health behavior outcome. “Social support (unspecified)” was the most consistently adopted and effective BCT, especially with parental/peer involvement. The combination of “self-monitoring,” “goal setting,” and “feedback” also commonly #Appeared in successful interventions. Intervention effectiveness #Appeared linked to strategic BCT selection and individualization rather than the total number of techniques. The methodological quality of included reviews was predominantly low, with only 2 rated high. Conclusions: This umbrella review identified “social support (unspecified)” as a consistently effective BCT across multiple adolescent #Health behavior domains, particularly with parental/peer involvement. Intervention success #Appears linked to targeted and individualized BCT use. Future research should prioritize clarifying the specific components and delivery methods of effective social support, rigorously evaluating BCT configurations in underexplored areas such as adolescent smoking cessation, and examining their long-term impact on behavior change.

Background: Studies show that despite the positive effects of physical activity (PA), most university students are not active enough. For interventions, it is necessary to understand the determinants of PA behavior. Theory of planned behavior (TPB) is one of the most widely used frameworks to describe the psychological determinants of health behavior. Research has shown that in addition to the determinants included in TPB (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived control, and intention), fear of negative outcomes (eg, discomfort or pain) is a major barrier to increasing one’s PA. It has been shown that accepting the possibility of unpleasant outcomes may help in reaching one’s PA goals. Objective: The purpose of this study was to create a questionnaire of PA determinants based on TPB and complemented by the topic of acceptance of unpleasant outcomes. The questionnaire is thus meant for evaluating the effectiveness of health psychological PA interventions in university students and young adults. Methods: This study was carried out using qualitative and quantitative methods and consisted of three phases: (1) an elicitation study for item generation, (2) pretesting for clarity and understanding, and (3) item selection using conceptual and psychometric criteria (based on a pretest with N=447) to maximize domain coverage and avoid redundancy. Results: A questionnaire covering the core topics of TPB plus acceptance of negative outcomes was constructed, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The final shortened questionnaire consists of the following question blocks: positive and negative behavioral beliefs, acceptance of negative outcomes, subjective norms (injunctive and descriptive norms, and motivation to comply), and control beliefs. In terms of predicting self-reported PA, the shortened questionnaire was equal to the unabridged version. Notably, negative behavioral beliefs and acceptance of negative outcomes had opposite-signed correlations with self-reported PA (–0.22 and 0.32, P

Background: Self-management is critical for older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM); however, its practice remains suboptimal. Social media has become an accessible and effective stimulus source for the public, which has the potential to promote health behaviors, but its effect on the self-management of older adults with T2DM remains unknown. Objective: We aimed to investigate the relationship between social media exposure, specifically time exposure and content exposure, and the self-management of older adults with T2DM. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we enrolled 257 older adults with T2DM who used short-form video apps from community health care centers. We assessed subjective and objective time and content exposure. We transformed text-based content exposure into diabetes-related content exposure encompassing irrelevant, harmful, hypobeneficial, and hyperbeneficial categories using Q-methodology. Self-management was assessed through a validated questionnaire. We used restricted cubic splines and linear regression models to model the relationships between time exposure and content exposure and self-management, respectively. Results: Of 257 older adults with T2DM, the median age was 69 (IQR 65-72) years, 53.3% (n=137) were women, the mean sum score of self-management was 35.7 (SD 10.4), the median subjective time exposure was 120 (IQR 60-120) minutes, and 61.1% (n=157) of them were exposed to hyperbeneficial content. There was an approximate L-shaped dextrorotatory relationship between time exposure and self-management, with a decline in self-management when time exposure surpassed 139.8 minutes daily. Exposure to hyperbeneficial content was positively associated with the overall self-management (B=3.46, 95% CI 0.71-6.21). For participants exposed for more than 139.8 minutes daily, this positive association remained robust (B=7.27, 95% CI 1.54-13.00). In subdimensional analyses, hyperbeneficial content exposure was positively associated with general diet (B=1.51, 95% CI 0.54-2.49) and blood glucose testing (B=1.31, 95% CI 0.25-2.38). Conclusions: Social media exposure presented a double-edged sword for self-management of older adults with T2DM. Self-management declined when the daily time spent on social media exceeded 139.8 minutes. However, exposure to hyperbeneficial content was associated with better self-management of individuals, regardless of excessive time spent on social media. Future longitudinal and experimental studies that validate the multifaceted association between social media exposure and health behaviors are needed. If confirmed, these findings would support the implementation of media prescription programs by health care providers in communities.

Background: #MentalHealth problems and adverse #Health behaviors are enriched in individuals with obesity and need to be considered in weight loss interventions. Regarding weight loss, hybrid interventions combining #Digital and in-person elements have proven superior to eHealth-only interventions. However, it remains unclear whether minimal group or individual enhancement could bring additional benefits to the #MentalHealth and #Health behavior domains in individuals with obesity. Objective: This study explored whether minimal group or individual enhancements could offer additional benefits to an eHealth intervention in relation to #MentalHealth, perceived work ability, and #Health behavior in a sample of occupational #Health patients with obesity. Additionally, the study sought to examine the overall effects of the #Health behavior-focused intervention across these domains. Methods: This study was a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a 12-month intervention (March 2021 to March 2022), with selected variables followed for another 12-months without additional support. Recruited from occupational #Health care, 111 working-age adults with BMI 30–40 kg/m2 were randomized to one of three treatment arms: eHealth, eHealth+Group, or eHealth+Individual. All treatment arms received a web-administered, coach-assisted eHealth program based on ACT and, additionally, the eHealth+Group and eHealth+Individual arms received three remotely facilitated group or individual meetings. The overall intervention effects were evaluated quasi-experimentally combining the three treatment arms into a single eHealth arm. Participants were assessed for #depression (BDI-21), burnout (BBI-18), perceived work ability, eating behavior (ecSatter2.0, TFEQ, and BES), and physical activity (BPAQ). Results: We observed inconsistent fluctuations between the treatment arms in #depression and burnout scores, indicating a lack of meaningful intervention effects despite statistical significance. Therefore, none of the treatment arms showed superiority over another. Across all participants, #depression showed an estimated mean decrease of 2.5 BDI-21-points, with older participants experiencing a greater reduction in #depressive symptoms. Furthermore, binge eating tendency decreased by 4.9 BES-points during the 12-month intervention. We also observed increases in eating competence, controlled restraint, and physical activity. However, the 24-month measurements showed an adverse effect on eating competence, especially on attitudes towards eating and food, during the follow-up period without further support. Conclusions: Minimal enhancement through either group or individual virtual meetings did not provide additional benefits in the #MentalHealth or eating habit domains compared to the eHealth intervention alone. Nevertheless, our results indicate that eHealth interventions for weight loss have the potential to reduce #depression symptoms and binge eating tendencies, while also improving eating competence and physical activity across the study population. Continued support may be necessary to sustain positive changes. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04785586; RR2-10.1016/j.conctc.2020.100638

Background: Childhood obesity prevalence remains high, especially in racial and ethnic minority populations with low incomes. This epidemic is attributed to various dietary behaviors, including increased consumption of energy-dense foods and sugary…