Using the Health Belief Model to design a questionnaire aimed at measuring people’s perceptions regarding COVID-19 immunity certificates

This article is a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed. It reports new medical research that has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice.Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). The present short communication paper describes the methodological approach of applying the Health Belief Model to the use COVID-19 immunity certificates in the UK. We designed an online survey including an adaptation of the following Health Belief Model constructs: perceived COVID-19 susceptibility, perceived COVID-19 severity, perceived benefits of using immunity certificates, perceived barriers from using immunity certificates, perceived severity of not using immunity certificates, and perceived vaccination views. The online cross-sectional survey conducted on the 3rd of August 2021 gathered responses from 534 participants aged 18 and older, representative of the UK population in terms of gender, age, and ethnicity.AHRC/UKRI COVID-19 Rapid Response, IMMUNE or Immunity Passport Service Design project (Ref. AH/W000288/1)

Individual Factors Influencing the Public’s Perceptions About the Importance of COVID-19 Immunity Certificates in the United Kingdom: Cross-sectional Web-based Questionnaire Survey

Data Availability: The data is available in a public, open access repository. All materials are freely available on Open Science Framework [22].Background: Understanding how perceptions around immunity certificates are influenced by individual characteristics is important to inform evidence-based policy making and implementation strategies for services around immunity and vaccine certification. Objective: This study aimed to assess what were the main individual factors influencing people’s perception of the importance of using COVID-19 immunity certificates, including health beliefs about COVID-19, vaccination views, sociodemographics, and lifestyle factors. Methods: A cross-sectional web-based survey with a nationally representative sample in the United Kingdom was conducted on August 3, 2021. Responses were collected and analyzed from 534 participants, aged 18 years and older, who were residents of the United Kingdom. The primary outcome measure (dependent variable) was the participants’ perceived importance of using immunity certificates, computed as an index of 6 items. The following individual drivers were used as the independent variables: (1) personal beliefs about COVID-19 (using constructs adapted from the Health Belief Model), (2) personal views on vaccination, (3) willingness to share immunity status with service providers, and (4) variables related to respondents’ lifestyle and sociodemographic characteristics. Results: The perceived importance of immunity certificates was higher among respondents who felt that contracting COVID-19 would have a severe negative impact on their health (β=0.2564; P<.001) and felt safer if vaccinated (β=0.1552; P<.001). The prospect of future economic recovery positively influenced the perceived importance of immunity certificates. Respondents who were employed or self-employed (β=–0.2412; P=.001) or experienced an increase in income after the COVID-19 pandemic (β=–0.1287; P=.002) perceived the use of immunity certificates as less important compared to those who were unemployed or had retired or those who had experienced a reduction in their income during the pandemic. Conclusions: The findings of our survey suggest that more vulnerable members in our society (those unemployed or retired and those who believe that COVID-19 would have a severe impact on their health) and people who experienced a reduction in income during the pandemic perceived the severity of not using immunity certificates in their daily life as higher.Immunity Passport Service Design is a research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council/UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) COVID-19 Rapid Response (Ref. AH/W000288/1)

Experimental evaluation in wireless communications

This editorial sums up relevant topics on the assessment of wireless communication systems covered by the especial issue entitled "Experimental Evaluation in Wireless Communications". The topics include practical aspects on the implementation of distributed asynchronous non-linear kernel methods over wireless sensor networks; localization methods based on the exploitation of radio-frequency identification (RFID) wireless sensors and cellular networks or on sparsity approximations; channel sounding and assessment of broadband orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)-based wireless systems in high-speed vehicular communications; coexistence analysis of femtocell-based and outdoor-to-indoor systems; techniques for peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) reduction; new solutions for baseband and radio frequency (RF) hardware impairments in full-duplex wireless systems; and, finally, suitability of interference alignment for broadband indoor wireless communications

In the wild pilot usability assessment of a connected health system for stroke self management

UK Engineering Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under grant EP/P010105/1

The effects of discipline on the application of learning object metadata in UK higher education : the case of the Jorum repository

This paper reports on the findings of a study investigating the potential effects of discipline (sciences and engineering versus humanities and social sciences) on the application of the Istitute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers learning object metadata elements for the description of learning objects in the Jorum learning object repository. Method. A survey was conducted that examined a stratified sample of 470 metadata records and surrogates used for the description of learning objects in the Jorum repository. A quantitative data analysis was performed based on the sample. This included descriptive statistics as well as a set of Chi squared tests for the identification of differences in the application of learning object metadata elements between disciplines. The results of this study showed that some metadata elements tended to be more frequently applied for the description of learning objects in the humanities and social sciences than in sciences and engineering. These were: interactivity type, difficulty, aggregation level, coverage, structure and semantic density. The findings of this study could have implications for the design of metadata editors and annotation tools, as well as the development of metadata training programmes

Greek academic librarians' perceptions of the impact of Google on their role as information providers

The increased popularity of Google search engine in the daily routine in one's workplace and in the academic information seeking process is undeniable. 'Googling' challenges the traditional skills of librarians as information providers and the role of library and information service provision in the digital era. This paper reports on the preliminary findings of a qualitative study investigating the perceptions of Greek academic librarians on the impact of Google and 'Googling' on their role as information providers in the digital era. To address the needs of this study a set of semi structured interviews was employed with library managers and librarians. The findings of this study revealed that Greek academic librarians use mainly Google Search for its easy information provision but advise on adequate training on Google sources evaluation before use. It was suggested that libraries need to support life-long learning, and enhance their services quality in order to survive. Additionally, IT and managerial skills acquisition seems to be vital. Research also revealed the essential role of LIS departments in the provision of life-long learning and the organisation of training programmes. © 2008 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved

Why “one size fits all” is not enough when designing immunity certificates for domestic use: a UK wide cross-sectional online survey

Preprints are preliminary reports of work that have not been certified by peer review. They should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.Copyright 2021 The Author(s). Objectives: The present study explored public’s willingness to use COVID-19 immunity certificates across six different domestic scenarios. Design: Cross-sectional online survey. Setting: UK representative survey conducted on the 3rd of August 2021. Participants: 534 UK residents over 18 years old. Interventions: Participants replied to the same set of questions. Primary and secondary outcome measures: The primary outcome measure was willingness to use immunity certificates across three different domestic settings (1. Visiting the GP for a non- urgent health issue, 2. Dining in a restaurant, and 3. Attending a performance in a theatre). For each setting two options, one prioritising convenience (option A) and the other privacy (option B), were offered. Our secondary outcome measures were computed indices from items adapted from the Health Belief Model; Attitudes towards sharing immunity status with service providers; Prior characteristics. Results: Respondents were more willing to use immunity certificates that prioritised convenience, rather than privacy, when visiting their GP (92%). However, privacy was more favorable (84%) in the other two settings (dining in a restaurant and going to a theatre) compared to convenience (39%). Personal beliefs about COVID-19 and immunity certificates were associated with variations in willingness to use these across all scenarios. No variations were observed across socio-demographics and lifestyle. Conclusions: The findings of this survey suggest that there is not one size fits all solution for designing immunity certificates. Immunity certificates are complex socio-technical systems, any attempt to implement these for domestic use should be tailored to different settings and user needs. The design of certification services requires a more evidence-based approach and further research is needed to understand how different settings, design elements (like convenience or privacy) and personal beliefs about the pandemic should inform their design.IMMUNE or Immunity Passport Service Design is a project funded by the AHRC/UKRI COVID-19 Rapid Response (Ref. AH/W000288/1)

Individual factors influencing public’s perceptions about the importance of COVID-19 immunity certificates: a cross-sectional online questionnaire survey in the UK

This article is a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed. It reports new medical research that has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice.Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Objectives To assess what were the main individual factors influencing people’s perception of the importance of using COVID-19 immunity certificates. Design Cross-sectional online survey. Setting Nationally representative survey in the UK, conducted on the 3rd of August 2021. Participants Responses from 534 participants, aged 18 and older, residents of the UK. Interventions This was a cross-sectional survey and each participant replied to the same set of questions. Primary outcome measure and independent variables The primary outcome measure (dependent variable) was the participants’ perceived importance of using immunity certificates, computed as an index of six items. The following individual drivers were used as the independent variables: a) personal beliefs about COVID-19 (using constructs adapted from the Health Belief Model), b) personal views on vaccination, c) willingness to share immunity status with service providers, and d) variables related to respondents’ lifestyle and socio-demographic characteristics. Results Perceived importance of immunity certificates was higher among respondents who felt that contracting COVID-19 would have a severe negative impact on their health (β=0.2564, p=0.0000) and felt safer if vaccinated (β =0.1552, p=0.0000). The prospect of future economic recovery positively influenced perceived importance of immunity certificates. Respondents who were employed or self-employed (β=-0.2412, p=0.0010), or experienced an increase in income after the COVID-19 pandemic (β=-0.1287, p=0.0020) perceived less important the use of immunity certificates compared to those who were unemployed or had retired or those who had experienced reduction in their income during the pandemic. Conclusions The findings of our survey suggest that more vulnerable members in our society (unemployed or retired and those believing that COVID-19 would have a severe impact on their health) and people who experienced a reduction in income during the pandemic perceived the severity of not using immunity certificates in their daily life as higher.AHRC/UKRI COVID-19 Rapid Response, IMMUNE or Immunity Passport Service Design project (Ref. AH/W000288/1)