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BackgroundThere has been a significant increase in the trend of using social media as a platform to deliver weight management interventions. This illustrates a need to develop a holistic understanding of doctor-patient communication and peer-to-peer communication in social media interventions and to determine their influences on weight management for people with overweight or obesity. Such studies will highlight how social media can be more effectively integrated into weight management programs to enhance individuals’ short-term and long-term weight management behaviors. ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to examine patients’ experiences with doctor-patient communication and peer interactions in a social media–based (WeChat) weight management program, and to describe the interplay of three social influence factors—social support, social comparison, and surveillance—in their weight control practices. The program, designed and implemented by the research team located in a tertiary referral hospital in a southeastern province in China, included both diet and physical activity components that targeted people with overweight or obesity. MethodsWe conducted in-depth interviews with 32 program participants of different ages (mean 35.6, SD 7.7 years), gender (18 women), duration of program membership (mean 1.4 years), and weight loss outcomes (54% weight loss to 9% weight gain). All interview data were audio-recorded, transcribed, and translated using the translation-backtranslation technique. Nvivo software was used to facilitate the coding process. ResultsResults of thematic analysis indicated the distinct functions of professionally led support and peer support. Professional support was presented in the form of knowledge infusion, efficacy enhancement, and provision of timely feedback. Peer support fostered empathy and sense of belonging, and had a mutually reinforcing relationship with peer comparison and peer-based surveillance. Peer comparison enhanced motivation and positive competition. However, it also reinforced negative group norms, and resulted in downturns in reference standards and collective inactivity. Social media surveillance prompted participants’ reactions to the gaze from medical professionals and peers that could be encouraging or inhibiting. Surveillance enhanced vigilance with weight control norms; however, its influence weakened when participants chose to fake weight data and turn off notifications. Findings from this study illustrated the interrelated and fluctuating influences of support, comparison, and surveillance. ConclusionsThe interactive traits of social media eased the practices of social support and social comparison, and created new forms of surveillance. This study contributes to an in-depth understanding of social media influences on individuals’ weight control behaviors. Practical implications of the study concern improved strategies for maintaining the positive dynamics of social media interactions and preventing negative resistance to surveillance technology. Trial RegistrationChinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR1900025861; http://www.chictr.org.cn/showprojen.aspx?proj=42497

Due to the widespread involvement of distributed collaboration triggered by COVID-19, it has become a new trend that has continued into the post-pandemic era. This study investigated collective performance within two collaborative environments (co-located and distancing settings) by assessing inter-brain synchrony patterns (IBS) among design collaborators using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The preliminary study was conducted with three dyads who possessed 2–3 years of professional product design experience. Each dyad completed two designated design tasks in distinct settings. In the distributed condition, participants interacted through video conferencing in which they were allowed to communicate by verbalization and sketching using a shared digital whiteboard. To prevent the influences of different sketching tools on design outputs, we employed digital sketching for both environments. The interactions between collaborators were identified in three behaviors: verbal only, sketch only, and mixed communication (verbal and sketch). The consequences revealed a higher level of IBS when mixed communication took place in distributed conditions than in co-located conditions. Comparably, the occurrence of IBS increased when participants solely utilized sketching as the interaction approach within the co-located setting. A mixed communication method combining verbalization and sketching might lead to more coordinated cognitive processes when in physical isolation. Design collaborators are inclined to adjust their interaction behaviors in order to adapt to different design environments, strengthen the exchange of ideas, and construct design consensus. Overall, the present paper discussed the performance of virtual collaborative design based on a neurocognitive perspective, contributing valuable insights for the future intervention design that promotes effective virtual teamwork. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fact that social media gives users easy access to online health information raises the question of what information evaluation strategies older adults use to distinguish trustworthy from unreliable health information. Identifying how older adults assess the credibility of health information that they acquire on social media is an important step toward understanding and reducing their susceptibility to health misinformation. In this study, we investigated the credibility assessment strategies used by older WeChat users in China. Following a qualitative approach, we conducted in-depth interviews with 40 WeChat users 65–85 years old (M = 71.75, SD = 6.65) in China who had acquired health information on WeChat. Results of theoretical thematic analysis revealed five source-based and content-based evaluative strategies: (1) determining the communicative orientation of the source, (2) assessing source reputation, (3) confirming content based on life experiences, (4) checking for exaggeration in claimed effects, and (5) assessing the consistency of content across sources. Older WeChat users’ reliance on certain heuristic cues and their self-reliant approach to assessing information credibility provide contextual explanations for the link between heuristic processing and susceptibility to health misinformation. The findings have implications for anti-misinformation interventions targeting the older population in China and potentially beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic illness is the most prevalent and costly global public health challenge. To address this challenge, health information is essential for individuals to make informed decisions to self‐manage their health and prevent and monitor chronic illness. Although previous studies show that health information scanning—a form of information gathering behavior to obtain health information, incidentally, when health topics of interest arise during daily conversations with others or through regular use of the media—positively influenced health decisions, little is known about information scanning in the context of chronic illness. This study applied the Comprehensive Model of Information Seeking to examine factors that influence individuals' use of different channels for health information scanning. Using quota sampling to resemble population demographic characteristics, we collected 1100 online survey responses from Chinese‐speaking Hong Kong residents aged from 18 to 65 or older. Three structural equation modeling analyses were performed to examine how antecedent factors and information carrier factors influenced the use of interpersonal/group channels, the Internet‐related channels, and the traditional media channels for scanning chronic illness‐related information. The findings supported that channel utility was an important determinant of health scanning behavior, and channel characteristics were strong predictors of channel utility. However, mixed findings were observed on the relationship between antecedent factors and channel utility across the three‐channel categories, because some antecedent factors had direct influence on health information scanning. These findings will inform the information dissemination and promotional message design for chronic illness prevention and care. Key points: Consistent with predictions of the comprehensive model of information seeking, the more individuals perceive that messages carried by an information channel are personally relevant and useful to them, the more likely they will scan health information using that channel. Furthermore, the more individuals perceive the message content to contain positive characteristics, the more likely they perceive the messages carried by the channels as relevant and useful to them. Of antecedent factors, belief‐related variables (perceived benefits and drawbacks of regular physical checkups, and efficacy belief) showed significant influences on people's perception of information channel utility and their health information scanning behavior. When designing promotional messages and disseminating information related to chronic illness care and prevention, it is important to consider factors of perceived benefits and drawbacks of regular physical checkups, efficacy belief, age, worry, and insurance/subsidy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Family members as informal caregivers are considered the first line of support for people with dementia across the world. In Singapore, caregiving expectations revolve around the cultural expectations of providing care in the home environment. However, studies in Singapore have identified a lack of family support for primary caregivers. Family support has been discussed in the literature as the provision of care for people with dementia, and rarely as a resource for family caregivers. Method: To understand family support among primary caregivers in Singapore, 24 semi-structured interviews were conducted. Thematic analysis found four themes: excuses for lack of physical support for the caregiver, tensions between cultural expectations of caregiving and the provision of support, unmet emotional support, and lack of awareness of dementia and caregiving needs. Findings: Caregivers rationalized and forgave the absence of physical support but were frustrated when the lack of support impacted people with dementia. This was seen as a lack of fulfilling cultural obligations of caring for elderly parents. The caregivers also felt frustrated with the lack of emotional support provided to them, but these were unspoken between the caregiver and the family members. Insufficient and unhelpful support giving was exacerbated with the perception of family members' limited understanding of the demands of caregiving. Conclusion: The findings offer four practical suggestions to address unmet support needs. First, public education is needed to enhance general knowledge about the symptoms and progression of dementia. Second, help is needed to address miscommunication about support within the family. Third, the development of guidebooks is needed to help family caregivers communicate with family members about their various support needs. Fourth, the relationship between cultural expectation and caregiving must be understood within the context of modernity and urbanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the majority of trauma survivors reside in low and middle income countries, these regions have historically been poorly represented in traumatic stress research. However, a recent review of geographic representation within traumatic stress journals is lacking. This study reviewed all articles published between 2006 and 2015 in six leading traumatic stress journals. When articles (n = 2530) were categorised by region, less than one tenth (9.76%; n = 247) were representative of low and middle income countries. All articles categorised as being from a low and middle income country were then coded for the regional and country representations of samples, author affiliations, and funding sources, and for type of research methodology. The majority of primary author teams (56.28%) and funding sources (55.87%) for articles based in low and middle income countries were located in high-income countries. The majority of low and middle income country articles (71.66%) used structured symptom questionnaires of which more than two thirds (70.6%) assessed symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. These findings indicate that knowledge production about traumatic stress in domain-specific journals reflects a state of ongoing geographic inequality and that research published from low and middle income countries reflects predominantly etic methodologies centred on measuring posttraumatic stress disorder. The implications are discussed and recommendations are offered for developing a research base in domain-specific journals that better represents the experiences and needs of trauma survivors in low and middle income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Singapore, the institutional preference for biomedicine and the cultural importance of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) have created tensions between the two medical systems and erected barriers to a more collaborative health-care system. This study foregrounds TCM physicians' voice to reveal ideological struggles and power imbalances that underlie the interprofessional tensions and accompanying marginalization of TCM. Through in-depth interviews with 22 TCM physicians in Singapore, this study reveals the incongruences in ideological underpinnings between biomedicine and TCM, reflected in their different worldviews and epistemological approaches to knowledge formation and evaluation. Power differentials between the two medical systems are manifest in TCM physicians' inferior position in relation to their biomedical peers, the patients' internalization of biomedical standards to question the TCM profession and their own interest in seeking TCM treatments, and the state's limited support for TCM research, subsidies, and service provision in hospital settings. The results suggest that more open dialogue about the dichotomous framings of biomedicine and TCM is key to disrupting the mutual reinforcement of ideology and power, as well as to creating increased mutual understanding between the two medical systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Singapore, the responsibility of caring for persons with dementia falls on family members who cope with a long-term caregiver burden, depending on available support resources. Hiring foreign domestic workers to alleviate caregiver burden becomes a prevalent coping strategy that caregivers adopt. This strategy allows caregivers to provide home care as part of fulfilling family obligations while managing the caregiver burden. This study aimed to investigate primary caregivers’ relationship with hired support and its impact on coping with caregiver burden. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted with primary caregivers who hired live-in domestic helpers to take care of their family members with dementia. The findings revealed that caregivers perceived the normative obligations to provide home care to family members with dementia. They sought support from domestic helpers to cope with physical and mental burnout, disruption of normal routines, and avoidance of financial strain. A mutual-support relationship was built between caregivers and domestic helpers through trust and interdependence. The presence of domestic helpers as a coping resource reveals the positive outcomes of problem-, emotional-, and diversion-focused coping. This study illustrates that coping strategies are employed in different ways depending on the needs of caregivers, access to infrastructure, cultural expectations, and available resources. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study investigated the functions of family support in older Chinese Singaporean women's daily health management in a Confucian cultural context, wherein family solidarity and women's caregiving responsibilities are emphasized. Thirty-eight interviews were conducted with ethnic Chinese women above the age of 60 in Singapore. Our thematic analysis showed that older women played dual roles as support providers and recipients in the family. Their caregiver identity and intent to preserve tradition resulted in a downward transmission of informational and physical support and their hesitance to accept resources provided by younger family members. The asymmetrical flow of family support generated mixed impacts on the women's daily health management. In their transition between tradition and modernity, older women fulfilled their family responsibilities but did not require their children to do so. Our findings suggested an integration of familial and institutional resources to meet older women's support needs and help them enhance their health behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined effects of age and social psychological factors on women’s willingness to be mobile health information seekers. A national survey of 1,878 Singaporean women was conducted to obtain information on women’s mobile phone usage, experiences of health information seeking, and appraisals of using mobile phones to seek health information. Results showed that young, middle-aged, and older women exhibited distinct mobile phone usage behaviors, health information-seeking patterns, and assessments of mobile health information seeking. Factors that accounted for their mobile information-seeking intention also varied. Data reported in this study provide insights into mobile health interventions in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Information behavior includes activities of active information seeking, passive acquisition of information, and information use. Guided by the Elaboration Likelihood Model, this study explored elderly Singaporean women’s health information behavior to understand how they sought, evaluated, and used health information in everyday lives. Twenty-two in-depth interviews were conducted with elderly Chinese women aged 61 to 79. Qualitative analysis of the interview data yielded three meta-themes: information-seeking patterns, trustworthiness of health information, and peripheral route of decision making. Results revealed that elderly women took both systematic and heuristic approaches to processing information but relied on interpersonal networks to negotiate health choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]