Risks perception of electromagnetic fields in Taiwan: the influence of psychopathology and the degree of sensitivity to electromagnetic fields

A Study of Factors Influencing on Passive and Active Acceptance of Home Energy Management Services with Internet of Things

Since awareness of the influence of home energy management services (HEMS) with Internet of things (IoT) has grown, the study on the acceptance of IoT services has been expanded. Previous studies, however, have not paid attention to the acceptance itself, focusing only on factors affecting the acceptance. This study attempts to draw meaningful implications by exploring the relationships between the acceptance and the factors affecting it with distinctions between passive acceptance and active acceptance. This study analyzed the ordinal logistic regression models based on a survey of 909 adults 19 years of age and older in Korea on HEMS with IoT. In addition, we attempt the ordinal forest to increase the reliability of the research results. As a result, this study showed that consumers’ perception of usefulness was noticeably important to enhance active acceptance and that those who had high sensitivity to new technology acceptance showed high active acceptance, and older women had higher active acceptance. This study might contribute to the research on IoT acceptance in the energy management sector by classifying the acceptance into active acceptance and passive acceptance beyond the framework of setting the acceptance as a single variable.

Prioritizing health outcomes when assessing the effects of exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields: A survey among experts

Exposure to radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic fields (EMF) (frequencies of 100 kHz to 300 GHz) has been steadily increasing. In addition to heat-related effects of RF EMF, other yet-unspecified biological effects, might exist which could possibly lead to health effects. Given the large number of health endpoints that have been studied, we wanted to prioritize those that would merit systematic reviews. We developed a survey listing of all health endpoints reported in the literature and we asked 300 RF EMF experts and researchers to prioritize these health effects for systematic review as critical, important or unimportant. We also asked the experts to provide the rationale for their prioritization. Of the 300 RF EMF experts queried, 164 (54%) responded. They rated cancer, heat-related effects, adverse birth outcomes, electromagnetic hypersensitivity, cognitive impairment, adverse pregnancy outcomes and oxidative stress as outcomes most critical regarding RF EMF exposure. For these outcomes, systematic reviews are needed. For heat-related outcomes, the experts based their ranking of the critical outcomes on what is known from human or animal studies, and for cancer and other outcomes, they based their rating also on public concern. To assess health risks of an exposure in a robust manner, it is important to prioritize the health outcomes that should be systematically reviewed. Here we have shown that it feasible to do so in an inclusive and transparent way.

Psychological Impact of Health Risk Communication and Social Media on College Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-Sectional Study

Background

The outbreak of COVID-19 began in 2019 and is expected to impact the psychological health of college students. Few studies have investigated the associations among health risk communication, social media, and psychological symptoms during a major pandemic.

Objective

The aim of this research was to assess the prevalence of psychological symptoms among college students and explore their associations with health risk communication and social media.

Methods

A web-based survey was distributed through the Wenjuanxing platform among Chinese college students from March 3-15, 2020. In addition to demographics, information on health risk communication and social media was collected, and the Symptom Checklist 90 Phobia and Health Anxiety Inventory subscale was used to assess psychological symptoms among 1676 college students in China. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to examine these independent risk factors.

Results

The prevalence of panic and health anxiety was 17.2% (288/1676) and 24.3% (408/1676), respectively. Regarding risk communication, understanding the risk of COVID-19 (odds ratio [OR] 0.480, 95% CI 0.367-0.627) was a protective factor against panic. Knowledge of prognosis (OR 0.708, 95% CI 0.551-0.910), preventive measures (OR 0.380, 95% CI 0.195-0.742), and wearing face masks (OR 0.445, 95% CI 0.230-0.862) were shown to be protective factors in predicting health anxiety. Perceived lethality (OR 1.860, 95% CI 1.408-2.459), being affected by the global spread (OR 1.936, 95% CI 1.405-2.669), and impact on social contacts (OR 1.420, 95% CI 1.118-1.802) were identified as significant risk factors associated with health anxiety. In terms of social media, trust in mainstream media (OR 0.613, 95% CI 0.461-0.816) was considered to be a protective factor against health anxiety.

Conclusions

There was a high prevalence of psychological symptoms among college students. Health risk communication and social media use were important in predicting psychological symptoms, especially health anxiety. Scientific and evidence-based information should be reported by social media platforms. Web-based consultation and intervention measures should be the focus of future studies.

Factors Affecting Risk Perception of Electromagnetic Waves From 5G Network Base Stations

The coverage of the fifth‐generation network has increased steadily since the network was introduced in 2019. However, public protests around the globe against the construction of 5G network base stations have continued to occur for fear that electromagnetic (EM) waves emitted from the stations would cause adverse health effects. To identify factors that have contributed to such increased risk perception, we conducted a cross‐sectional study using data obtained from a survey that assessed Korean adults’ risk perception of EM wave‐related objects. We found that female gender, high level of perceived exposure to EM waves, evaluation of public policies as ineffective, and high level of objective knowledge on EM waves were associated with increased risk perception. Furthermore, we found that higher ratings on a few risk characteristics such as “personal knowledge,” “seriousness of the risk to future generations,” “dreadfulness,” and “severity of consequences” were also associated with increased risk perception as well. Bioelectromagnetics. © 2020 The Authors. Bioelectromagnetics published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Bioelectromagnetics Society

The association between exposure and psychological health in earthquake survivors from the Longmen Shan Fault area: the mediating effect of risk perception

Background

In this study, exposure refers to survivors who suffered from life-changing situations, such as personal injuries, the deaths or injury of family members, relatives or friends or the loss of or damage to personal or family property, as a result of the earthquake. The mediating effect of risk perception on the exposure and psychological health in survivors from the Longmen Shan Fault area and the moderating effect of social support on the relationship between risk perception and psychological health were both examined.

Method

A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a local Longmen Shan Fault area near the epicenter of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), the standard Chinese 12-item Short Form (SF-12v2), and the Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS) were used to interview 2,080 earthquake survivors in the period one-year after the earthquake. Based on the environment and the characteristics of the Longmen Shan Fault area, a risk perception questionnaire was developed to evaluate survivor risk perception. Factor and regression analyses were conducted to determine the hypothetical relations.

Results

The analyses provided effective support for the hypothesized model. Survivor risk perception was classified into direct risk perception and indirect risk perception. Survivor direct risk perception was found to play a partial mediating role in the relationship between exposure and the two domains (Physical component summary (PCS) and the Mental component summary (MCS)) of psychological health. Survivor indirect risk perception was found to have a only partial mediating effect on the association between exposure and MCS. Social support was found to moderate the influence of risk perception on psychological health.

Conclusion

Risk communication should be considered in future post-earthquake psychological assistance programs and social support strategies could also be useful in improving psychological health.