Socioeconomic inequalities in mental health and wellbeing among UK students during the COVID-19 pandemic: Clarifying underlying mechanisms

Universities are seeing growing numbers of students with poor mental health and wellbeing. Given that lower socioeconomic status (SES) students typically have poorer mental health and wellbeing than their peers, this may be, in part, caused by an increase in the number of students attending university from lower SES backgrounds. However, less is known about how socioeconomic inequalities in mental health and wellbeing persist within university communities. Research investigating psychosocial factors that contribute to socioeconomic disparities in mental health and wellbeing suggests perceived control, inclusion, and perceived worth to be important underlying mechanisms. However, another strand of research suggests perceived competence may also play a mediating role in this relationship. Consequently, the present research seeks to examine fulfilment of perceived control, inclusion, perceived worth, and competence needs as potential mediators in the relationship between subjective SES and mental health and wellbeing in university students. Below, we report the results of a cross-sectional survey conducted among university students (n = 811) in the UK during a period of COVID-19 restrictions. In line with prior research, we found evidence of socioeconomic inequalities in mental health and wellbeing among students. Further, we found subjective SES predicted perceptions of control, inclusion, and competence. In turn, perceived control and competence predicted both positive and negative mental health and wellbeing, whilst inclusion predicted positive mental health and wellbeing only. Unexpectedly, we found no evidence that perceived worth acts as a mediator in this relationship, independently of perceived control, inclusion, and competence. As academic institutions continue to pursue policies to ‘widen participation’, they also have a responsibility to understand how socioeconomic inequalities in mental health and wellbeing are perpetuated within the university community. Research in this area marks a first step to improve socioeconomic equality within Higher Education

How, when, and why is social class linked to mental health and wellbeing? A systematic meta-review.

Meta-reviews synthesising research on social class and mental health and wellbeing are currently limited and focused on specific facets of social class (e.g., social capital) or mental health and wellbeing (e.g., mental health disorders), and none sought to identify mechanisms in this relationship. The present meta-review sought to (1) assess the overall relationship between social class and mental health and wellbeing, (2) determine the mechanisms that act in this relationship, and (3) evaluate the strength of evidence available. The protocol was prospectively registered on PROSPERO (CRD42021214731). We systematically searched twelve databases in September 2022 and identified 149 eligible reviews from 38,257 records screened. Quality of evidence was assessed with the JBI levels of evidence and risk of bias with the ROBIS tool. A large but low-quality evidence base points to class-based inequalities in mental health and wellbeing, with the strongest available evidence linking lower social positions to an increased risk of depression. In terms of different facets of stratification, the best available evidence suggests that deprivation (e.g., poverty), socioeconomic status, income, and subjective social status are consequential for individuals' mental health and wellbeing. However, high-quality evidence for the roles of education, occupation, other economic resources (e.g., wealth), and social capital is currently limited. Most reviews employed individual-level measures (e.g., income), as opposed to interpersonal- (e.g., social capital) or community-level (e.g., neighbourhood deprivation) measures. Considering mechanisms, we found some evidence for mediation via subjective social status, sense of control, and experiences of stress and trauma. There was also some evidence that higher socioeconomic status can provide a buffer for neighbourhood deprivation, lower social capital, and lower subjective social status. Future research employing experimental or quasi-experimental methods, and systematic reviews with a low risk of bias, are necessary to advance this area of research. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Factors Influencing Dental Fear in Students of Biomedicine

Background: Dental fear is a reaction of an individual to actual or potential painful/harmful procedures in dental practice. There is large variation in reports of dental fear prevalence among university students, implying existence of different factors that influence occurrence of dental fear in various populations. Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate putative factors that may influence extent of dental fear among university students of biomedicine. Methods: This study was designed as cross-sectional investigation. In total, 113 students on study courses on the 3rd, 4th, 5th year of dentistry, and on the 4th, 5th and 6th year of medicine undergraduate program were surveyed at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Serbia. Fear of dentist was measured by the Dental Fear Survey and other variables were generated by questionnaire with questions about socio-demographic characteristics of the participants. Results: Students of biomedicine surveyed in this study did not suffer from dental fear in great extent (median value on the scale was close to the lower limit: 29.5. The only factor that increased risk for developing dental fear in our study was previous traumatic experience with a dentist. Conclusion: Dental fear is not very prevalent among biomedical students. However, main risk factor for dental fear in general population, previous traumatic experience with a dental intervention, also remains primary risk factor in population of biomedical students

Communicating evidence about the environment's role in obesity and support for government policies to tackle obesity: a systematic review with meta-analysis.

Public support for many policies that tackle obesity by changing environments is low. This may reflect commonly held causal beliefs about obesity, namely that it is due to failures of self-control rather than environmental influences. Several studies have sought to increase public support by changing these and similar causal beliefs, with mixed results. The current review is the first systematic synthesis of these studies. Searches of PsycInfo, Medline, Web of Science, Scopus, and Open Grey yielded 20 eligible studies (N = 8977) from 11,776 abstracts. Eligible studies were controlled experiments with an intervention group that communicated information about the environment's role in obesity, and a measure of support for environment-based obesity policies. The protocol was prospectively registered on PROSPERO. Meta-analyses showed no evidence that communicating information about the environment's influence on obesity changed policy support or the belief that the environment influences obesity. A likely explanation for this null effect is the ineffectiveness of interventions that were designed to change the belief that the environment influences obesity. The possibility remains, however, that the association observed between beliefs about the causes of obesity and attitudes towards obesity policies is correlational and not causal

What is the impact of increasing the prominence of calorie labelling? A stepped wedge randomised controlled pilot trial in worksite cafeterias.

BACKGROUND: Calorie labelling may help to reduce energy consumption, but few well-controlled experimental studies have been conducted in real world settings. In a previous randomised controlled pilot trial we did not observe an effect of calorie labelling on energy purchased in worksite cafeterias. In the present study we sought to enhance the effect by making the labels more prominent, and to address the operational challenges reported previously by worksites. METHODS: Three worksite cafeterias were randomised in a stepped wedge design to start the intervention at one of three fortnightly periods between March and July 2018. The intervention comprised introducing prominent calorie labelling for all cafeteria products for which calorie information was available (on average 87% of products offered across the three sites were labelled). Calorie content was displayed in bold capitalised Verdana typeface with a minimum font size of 14 e.g.120 CALORIES. Feasibility and acceptability were assessed using post-intervention surveys with cafeteria patrons and semi-structured interviews with managers. Effectiveness was assessed using total daily energy (kcal) purchased from intervention items across the three sites, analysed using semi-parametric GAMLSS models. RESULTS: Recruitment and retention of worksite cafeterias proved feasible: all three randomised sites successfully completed the study. Post-intervention feedback suggested high levels of intervention acceptability: 87% of responding patrons wanted calorie labelling to remain in place. No effect of the intervention on daily energy purchased was observed: -0.6% (95%CI -2.5 to 1.2, p = .487). By-site analyses showed similar null effects at each of the three sites, all ps > .110. CONCLUSIONS: There was no evidence that prominent calorie labelling changed daily energy purchased across three English-based worksite cafeterias. The intervention was feasible to implement and acceptable to patrons and managers

Can warning labels communicating the environmental impact of meat reduce meat consumption? Evidence from two multiple treatment reversal experiments in college dining halls

Meat consumption has an adverse impact on both human and planetary health. To date, very few studies have examined the effectiveness of interventions tackling the overconsumption of meat in field settings. The present research addresses this gap by examining the impact of gain-framed labelling interventions communicating the adverse environmental consequences of meat consumption, using a multiple treatment reversal design across two university college dining halls over a period of five weeks. In College A the intervention weeks consisted of text-only or text-and-image labels communicating the adverse environmental consequences of meat consumption, and in College B patrons were exposed to either environmental or health labels (gain-framed; combining images and text). In total 13,869 (6,577 in College A and 7,292 in College B) meals (dishes) were analysed over the period of interest. Beta-binomial regressions found no statistically significant impact of the intervention periods compared to baseline on meat consumption in both College A and College B. The number of meal type options emerged as the only consistent predictor of meat consumption across models and across both colleges: meat consumption decreased with an increase in non-meat meal options. A post-study survey (College A: n = 88; College B: n = 53) revealed that patrons in both dining halls perceived environmental labels bearing both text and images as more informative and influential at changing behaviour compared to the other labelling interventions, although this did not translate into a change in behaviour. We discuss the implications of these findings for research, policy, and practice

Characterising restrictions on commercial advertising and sponsorship of harmful commodities in local government policies: a nationwide study in England.

BackgroundCommercial advertising and sponsorship drive the consumption of harmful commodities. Local authorities (LAs) have considerable powers to reduce such exposures. This study aimed to characterize local commercial policies across all English LAs.MethodsWe conducted a census of all English LAs (n = 333) to identify local commercial policies concerning advertising and sponsorship of tobacco, alcohol, less healthy foods and gambling, through online searches and Freedom of Information requests. We explored policy presence, commodity frequency and type, and associations with LA characteristics (region, urban/rural and deprivation).ResultsOnly a third (106) of LAs in England had a relevant policy (32%). These included restrictions on tobacco (91%), gambling (79%), alcohol (74%) and/or less healthy foods (24%). Policy prevalence was lowest in the East of England (22%), North East (25%) and North West (27%), higher in urban areas (36%) than rural areas (28%) and lower in the least (27%) compared with the most (38%) deprived areas. Definitions in policies varied, particularly for alcohol and less healthy foods.ConclusionsEnglish LAs currently underutilize their levers to reduce the negative impacts of harmful commodity industry marketing, particularly concerning less healthy foods. Standardized guidance, including clarity on definitions and application, could inform local policy development

Consumer Power : the perspective of the organization

How do companies perceive the power of the customer? Do they fear their power and did they had experiences with customer boycotts before? There are many examples where customers did cause significant damage to certain companies or evene branches. But is this enough to make every organization fear the power of the customer? By conducting a qualitative research study, personal interviews with people from various organizations, all this questions should be answered. The organizations where the interview were conducted were austrian companies with different sizes and from different branches.Author Milica Vasiljevic, BScUniversität Linz, Masterarbeit, 2018(VLID)278197

Impact of Low Alcohol Verbal Descriptors on Perceived Strength: An Experimental Study

Abstract Objectives: Low alcohol labels are a set of labels that carry descriptors such as “low” or “lighter” to denote alcohol content in beverages. There is growing interest from policy makers and producers in lower strength alcohol products. However, there is a lack of evidence on how the general population perceives verbal descriptors of strength. The present research examines consumers’ perceptions of strength (%ABV) and appeal of alcohol products using low or high alcohol verbal descriptors. Design: A within-subjects experimental study in which participants rated the strength and appeal of 18 terms denoting low (nine terms), high (eight terms) and regular (one term) strengths for either (a) wine or (b) beer according to drinking preference. Methods: 1,600 adults (796 wine and 804 beer drinkers) sampled from a nationally representative UK panel. Results: Low, Lower, Light, Lighter, and Reduced formed a cluster and were rated as denoting lower strength products than Regular, but higher strength than the cluster with intensifiers consisting of Extra Low, Super Low, Extra Light and Super Light. Similar clustering in perceived strength was observed amongst the high verbal descriptors. Regular was the most appealing strength descriptor, with the low and high verbal descriptors using intensifiers rated least appealing. Conclusions: The perceived strength and appeal of alcohol products diminished the more the verbal descriptors implied a deviation from Regular. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of policy implications for lower strength alcohol labelling and associated public health outcomes.The study was funded by the Department of Health Policy Research Programme (Policy Research Unit in Behaviour and Health [PR-UN-0409-10109] and Response Mode Grant [PR-ST-0615-10012])