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• Nine novel AR interfaces for pedestrian-vehicle communication were evaluated using an online questionnaire study. • A total of 992 respondents from Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom completed the study. • Interfaces that employed design elements from existing traffic, and head-up displays, received the highest ratings overall. • There were no statistically significant effects of country, age, and gender on interface acceptance. • The mean ratings of AR interfaces showed strong convergence for various facets of acceptance. Augmented Reality (AR) technology could be utilised to assist pedestrians in navigating safely through traffic. However, whether potential users would understand and use such AR solutions is currently unknown. Nine novel AR interfaces for pedestrian-vehicle communication, previously developed using an experience-based design method, were evaluated through an online questionnaire study completed by 992 respondents in Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The AR indicated whether it was safe to cross the road in front of an approaching automated vehicle. Each interface was rated for its intuitiveness and convincingness, aesthetics, and usefulness. Moreover, comments were collected for qualitative analysis. The results indicated that interfaces that employed traditional design elements from existing traffic, and head-up displays, received the highest ratings overall. Statistical results also showed that there were no significant effects of country, age, and gender on interface acceptance. Thematic analysis of the textual comments offered detail on each interface design's stronger and weaker points, and revealed unintended effects of certain designs. In particular, some of the interfaces were commented on as being dangerous or scary, or were criticised that they could be misinterpreted in that they signal that something is wrong with the vehicle, or that they could occlude the view of the vehicle. The current findings highlight the limitations of experience-based design, and the importance of applying legacy design principles and involving target users in design and evaluation. Future research should be conducted in scenarios in which pedestrians actually interact with approaching vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Contact tracing (CT) is a key intervention to contain outbreaks of communicable diseases. During large-scale outbreaks, public health services may lack the resources required to perform CT effectively. One way of mitigating this issue is to shift some of the tasks in CT normally performed by public health services to cases and their contacts, supported by digital tools. We refer to this as "self-led CT." However, while the effectiveness of the self-led CT inherently depends on the willingness and skills of citizens to participate, the determinants of citizens' intention to participate in self-led CT are not yet fully understood., Objective: We aimed to identify determinants of Dutch citizens' intention to participate in self-led CT and assess their potential for behavioral change, so as to identify "behavior change targets," which may be used in the development and implementation of self-led CT to increase citizens' intention to participate., Methods: In March 2022, we performed an online cross-sectional questionnaire study. The questionnaire was developed based on findings from a previous exploratory semistructured interview study and distributed among a Dutch consumer panel. Using all questionnaire items as potential predictors, we performed a random forest analysis to identify determinants of citizens' intention to participate in self-led CT. We then performed an Agglomerative Hierarchical Cluster Analysis to identify groups of related determinants that may be considered overarching behavior change targets. Finally, we used Confidence Interval-Based Estimation of Relevance and calculated the Potential for Change Indices to compare the potential for behavioral change of the selected individual determinants and determinant clusters., Results: The questionnaire was completed by 3019 respondents. Our sample is representative of the Dutch population in terms of age, gender, educational level, and area of residence. Out of 3019 respondents, 2295 (76%) had a positive intention to participate in self-led CT. We identified 20 determinants of citizens' intention that we grouped into 9 clusters. In general, increasing citizens' trust in the digital tools developed for self-led CT has the highest potential to increase citizens' intention, followed by increasing the belief that using digital tools makes participating in self-led CT easier, reducing privacy-related concerns, and increasing citizens' willingness-and sense of responsibility-to cooperate in CT in general., Conclusions: Overall, Dutch citizens are positive toward participating in self-led CT. Our results provide directions for the development and implementation of self-led CT, which may be particularly useful in preparing for future, large-scale outbreaks., (©Yannick Bernd Helms, Akke van der Meer, Rik Crutzen, José António Ferreira, Mirjam E E Kretzschmar, Aura Timen, Nora Hamdiui, Mart L Stein. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (https://publichealth.jmir.org), 30.10.2024.)

Background: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) reached the Netherlands in February 2020. To minimize the spread of the virus, the Dutch government announced an "intelligent lockdown". Older individuals were urged to socially isolate completely, because they are at risk of a severe disease course. Although isolation reduces the medical impact of the virus, the non-medical impact should also be considered.Aim: To investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictive measures on the six dimensions of Positive Health in community-dwelling older individuals living in the Netherlands, and to identify differences within subgroups.Methods: In May/June 2020, community-dwelling older individuals aged ≥ 65 years completed an online survey based on Huber's model of Positive Health. Positive Health was measured regarding the appreciation of the six dimensions (categorized as poor/satisfactory/excellent) and a comparison with a year before (categorized as decreased/unchanged/increased) using frequencies (%) and a chi-square test.Results: 834 older individuals participated (51% women, 38% aged ≥ 76 years, 35% living alone, 16% self-rated poor health). Most respondents assessed their bodily functions, mental well-being and daily functioning as satisfactory, their meaningfulness and quality of life (QoL) as excellent, and their social participation as poor. 12% of the respondents reported a deterioration of 4-6 dimensions and 73% in 1-3 dimensions, compared to the past year. Deterioration was most frequently experienced in the dimension social participation (73%), the dimension mental well-being was most frequently improved (37%) and quality of life was in 71% rated as unchanged. Women more often observed a deterioration of 4-6 dimensions than men (15% vs. 8%, p = 0.001), and individuals with self-rated poor health more often than individuals with self-rated good health (22% vs. 10%, p < 0.001). Older individuals living alone experienced more frequently a decrease in meaningfulness compared to older individuals living together.Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictive measures had a substantial impact on all six dimensions of Positive Health in community-dwelling older individuals, especially in women, respondents living alone and respondents with self-rated poor general health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]