IntroductionOnline psychotherapy is a form of work that is becoming more and more popular. Public health problems, such as COVID-19, forced mental health professionals and patients to incorporate new methodologies such as the use of electronic media and internet to provide follow-up, treatment and also supervision. The aim of this study was to investigate which factors shape the therapists’ attitudes toward online psychotherapy during a pandemic taking into account: (1) attitudes toward the COVID-19 pandemic (fear of contagion, pandemic fatigue, etc.), (2) personal characteristics of the psychotherapists (age, gender, feeling of efficacy, anxiety, depression, etc.), and (3) characteristics of the psychotherapeutic practice (guideline procedure, client age group, professional experience, etc).Materials and methodsStudy participants were 177 psychotherapists from four European countries: Poland (n = 48), Germany (n = 44), Sweden (n = 49), and Portugal (n = 36). Data were collected by means of an individual online survey through the original questionnaire and the standardized scales: a modified version of the Attitudes toward Psychological Online Interventions Scale (APOI), Fear of Contagion by COVID-19 Scale (FCS COVID-19), Pandemic Fatigue Scale (PFS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Social Support Questionnaire (F-SozU K-14), and the Sense of Efficiency Test (SET).ResultsDeterminants that impacted psychotherapists’ attitudes toward online therapy were: COVID-19 belief in prevention—keeping distance and hand disinfection, pandemic behavioral fatigue, previous online therapy experience (including voice call), working with youth and adults. Our study showed that belief in the sense of prevention in the form of taking care of hand disinfection before the session, pandemic behavioral fatigue and experience in working with adults were significant predictors of negative attitudes of therapists toward online psychological interventions. On the other hand, belief in the sense of prevention in the form of keeping distance during the session had a positive effect on general attitudes toward therapy conducted via the internet.DiscussionThe online therapy boom during the COVID-19 pandemic has spawned a powerful tool for psychotherapists. More research in this area and training of psychotherapists are needed for online psychological interventions to become an effective therapy format that is accepted by patients and therapists alike.

Background: Those with diabetes were at a higher risk of experiencing severe illness in the event of contracting COVID-19. Did they therefore act more cautiously?Method: The Imperial 'COVID-19 Behavioural Tracker' details the results of regular surveying on attitudes surrounding COVID-19 guidance. Results from UK participants to questions reflecting willingness to adhere to important recommendations regarding everyday behaviour were examined. Responses from those with diabetes were compared to those stating none of a list of pre-existing health conditions. The effect of gender and age was examined.Results: Respondents with diabetes showed higher willingness to follow guidance than those with no health conditions. Compliance varied over time; willingness to self-isolate remained high throughout, while willingness to avoid shopping, avoid going out, or avoid large gatherings rose in winter months. Greater adherence was seen in older age ranges, and in females, for both those with diabetes and healthy respondents. A logistic regression underlined the influence of gender, showing it as the most important variable influencing willingness to follow guidance.Discussion: The results underline that interrelating factors influence health behaviour decisions. The results suggest that those with diabetes are likely to listen to advice provided to them by health care professionals.

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Purpose As the food industry accounts for more than one-third of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, it is one of the single largest contributors to climate change. Strategies for reductions of CO2e (equivalent) emissions must be put in place to regulate the impact the food systems have on the climate Environmental communication using climate labels sharing information on carbon footprints can help reduce GHGs emissions from restaurant purchases on a systemic scale. Aim The aim is to gain insights and study how a carbon label influences the concept of what is a climate-friendly restaurant and its capacity to bridge the gap between knowledge, awareness, and action. What are the motivations for restaurants’ employees to adopt climate-friendly behaviour? How does the use of the label influence the decision for restaurants to track their carbon footprint overtime, communicate the carbon footprint of dishes, and adapt menus to be more climate friendly? Method The data was collected with semi-structured interviews made with video communication with three restaurant chains all using the labels. Analysis The data collected via the interviews were examined using an inductive thematic analysis to identify key themes. The transcending transmission approach to communication was used to gain insights into both instrumental and constitutive communication dynamics. A s the theoretical framework, ‘symbolic interactionism’ helps untangle constitutive aspects of environmental communication surrounding climate labels to analyse the process of conceptualisation through usage, co-creation and interpretation. Results and discussion The analysis brought forward three main themes; First, the interactions between the scientific data accessible in the tool and the restaurants. Second, the diverse implications of sustainability marketing for motivating climate actions and what they look like. And finally, climate actions and how they are being apprehended and implemented by the restaurants. The promise of climate labels was discussed by both elaborating on sociocultural dynamics, sustainability marketing and activism forces and impulses influencing the motivations for restaurants. We then discussed the capacity to transcend information into action through collaboration, and inclusiveness to avoid greenwashing. Conclusions Restaurants have both a commercial interest to implement climate labels in their business as well as an intrinsic desire to be a company that take actions for the planet because of the restaurants’ employees’ convictions. However, restaurants find themselves in a tricky situation where they can be damned if they take ‘wrong’ actions that can be considered greenwashing, and damned if they do nothing. the software enables restaurants to legitimise their actions and communicate them to make them resilient and evolving.

A mix of guidance and mandated regulations during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic served to reduce the number of social contacts, to ensure distancing in public spaces, and to maintain the isolation of infected individuals. Individual variation in compliance to social distancing in Germany, relating to age, gender, or the presence of pre-existing health conditions, was examined using results from a total of 39 375 respondents to a web-based behavioral survey. Older people and females were more willing to engage in social distancing. Those with chronic conditions showed overall higher levels of compliance, but those with cystic fibrosis, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), and epilepsy showed less adherence to general social distancing measures but were significantly more likely to isolate in their homes. Behavioral differences partly lie in the nature of each condition, especially with those conditions likely to be exacerbated by COVID-19. Compliance differences for age and gender are largely in line with previous studies.

The COVID19 pandemic has caused a large number of infections and fatalities, causing administrations at various levels to use different policy measures to reduce viral spread by limiting public mobility. This paper analyzes the complex association between the stringency of restrictions, public mobility, and reproduction rate (R-value) on a national level for Germany. The goals were to analyze; a) the correlation between government restrictions and public mobility and b) the association between public mobilities and virus reproduction. In addition to correlations, a Gaussian Process Regression Technique is used to fit the interaction between mobility and R-value. The main findings are that: (i) Government restrictions has a high association with reduced public mobilities, especially for non-food stores and public transport, (ii) Out of six measured public mobilities, retail, recreation, and transit station activities have the most significant impact on COVID19 reproduction rates. (iii) A mobility reduction of 30% is required to have a critical negative impact on case number dynamics, preventing further spread.

Background: Those with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) were at a higher risk of experiencing severe illness in the event of contracting COVID-19. Did they therefore act more cautiously? Aim: The aim was to determine whether the condition of COPD incurred significant change in social distancing behavior compared to the general public. Design and Setting: Data was used from the Imperial COVID-19 Behavioural Tracker, which details results of regular public surveying on attitudes surrounding COVID-19 guidance. Methods: Responses by U.K. participants to twenty questions reflecting willingness to adhere to social distancing guidance were compared in those reporting COPD and non-COPD status. Results: Those with COPD stated a significantly greater willingness to wear face masks during early stages of pandemic. There was greater reluctance to go out and go shopping. There was no apparent or significant difference in willingness to use public transport, suggesting that this was an unavoidable necessity for all. The relationship between level of adherence and COVID-19 case numbers was weak both for those of both COPD and non-COPD status. Discussion: These results suggest that those with COPD were more cautious and followed guidance more willingly. Advice provided by GPs and healthcare professionals is likely to be beneficial in guiding patient behaviour.

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought the World to a near standstill for most of 2020 and 2021, causing chaos in international travel, driving many economies into the ground, particularly those largely based on tourism. The lack of standard tools to assist decision makers in structuring a coherent policy to allow foreign passengers into their county and the resulting panic-mode opening/closing the borders on every ″new case″ outburst or new variant ″of concern″, have led several countries to costly and often meaningless decisions based on fear rather than science or logic. This study aims at providing a universal method to safely keep the borders open and allow conditional immigration to foreign passengers according to a ″Risk Group″ table that includes all the countries reporting data on their Covid-19 situation to the WHO and other organisms. The RG table is recalculated on a weekly basis according to a mathematical model described in this paper, dynamically assessing the status of the pandemic worldwide through the calculation of a ″Safety Index″ for each country. A prototype algorithm has been implemented in VBA/EXCEL and its results are published bi-weekly on a Github repository.