Voters can be influenced by voter advice websites, but they do not follow the guidance blindly

Voter advice websites, where voters are matched with parties that share similar views to their own, have started to appear in the UK after becoming popular in the Netherlands and other countries. In this post Matt Wall, André Krouwel and Thomas Vitiello discuss a new site launched for the European Parliament elections and consider how influential these services can be on the choices voters make at the ballot box

Hypnotherapy for people living with IBS; what influences perceptions and effectiveness

Hypnotherapy is a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) which is demonstrably effective in treating irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a chronic functional condition, characterized by gastric pain. Hypnotherapy for IBS appears to be relatively little used by people living with the condition. Further, it is not known what delivery factors contribute to effectiveness. A mixed methods investigation was undertaken, starting with a narrative review of the public’s opinions of hypnosis and hypnotherapy. This found a broad positivity towards hypnotherapy, conditional upon associations with conventional medicine or psychology. A qualitative study followed which found a tendency towards disengagement with conventional medical services, and subsequent adoption of self-care measures, but that there was a low level of awareness of hypnotherapy for IBS and little idea how it might help. However, participants were broadly open to it. A systematic review, meta-analysis, and subgroup analysis of trials of hypnotherapy for IBS identified three factors within the delivery characteristics of a hypnotherapy for IBS intervention which were associated with effective outcomes: group, weekly and high-volume delivery. A survey into people with IBS’s attitudes towards hypnotherapy for IBS, identified that a lack of awareness and practical factors, such as travel time and cost, were the main barriers, but concerns regarding ability to enter trance and vulnerability in trance states were also present. The thesis has substantially advanced the existing knowledge regarding the understanding of hypnotherapy for IBS by people with the condition and what factors are associated with the success of the intervention. The findings show poor awareness of hypnotherapy for IBS and provides guidance for intervention delivery

Psicología social y moral de COVID-19 en 69 países

La pandemia de COVID-19 ha afectado a todos los ámbitos de la vida humana, incluido el tejido económico y social de las sociedades. Una de las estrategias centrales para gestionar la salud pública a lo largo de la pandemia ha sido el envío de mensajes persuasivos y el cambio de comportamiento colectivo. Para ayudar a los estudiosos a comprender mejor la psicología social y moral que subyace al comportamiento en materia de salud pública, presentamos un conjunto de datos compuesto por 51.404 individuos de 69 países. Este conjunto de datos se recopiló para el proyecto de la Colaboración Internacional en Psicología Social y Moral de COVID-19 (ICSMP COVID-19). Esta encuesta de ciencias sociales invitó a participantes de todo el mundo a completar una serie de medidas morales y psicológicas y actitudes de salud pública sobre COVID-19 durante una fase temprana de la pandemia de COVID-19 (entre abril y junio de 2020). La encuesta incluía siete grandes categorías de preguntas: Creencias sobre COVID-19 y conductas de cumplimiento; identidad y actitudes sociales; ideología; salud y bienestar; creencias morales y motivación; rasgos de personalidad; y variables demográficas. Presentamos los datos brutos y depurados, junto con todos los materiales de la encuesta, las visualizaciones de los datos y las evaluaciones psicométricas de las variables clave.The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all domains of human life, including the economic and social fabric of societies. One of the central strategies for managing public health throughout the pandemic has been through persuasive messaging and collective behaviour change. To help scholars better understand the social and moral psychology behind public health behaviour, we present a dataset comprising of 51,404 individuals from 69 countries. This dataset was collected for the International Collaboration on Social & Moral Psychology of COVID-19 project (ICSMP COVID-19). This social science survey invited participants around the world to complete a series of moral and psychological measures and public health attitudes about COVID-19 during an early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (between April and June 2020). The survey included seven broad categories of questions: COVID-19 beliefs and compliance behaviours; identity and social attitudes; ideology; health and well-being; moral beliefs and motivation; personality traits; and demographic variables. We report both raw and cleaned data, along with all survey materials, data visualisations, and psychometric evaluations of key variables