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Background Wearing face coverings to prevent airborne viral transmission has at times been legally mandated, followed by periods when rules were relaxed. The present study tracks changes in face covering and the impacts on people's perceptions of their capabilities, opportunities and motivations. Methods Three-wave survey. At wave 1 (25 January–6 February 2022), 10 622 UK adults reported: (a) sociodemographic characteristics; (b) face covering in work, public transport and indoor leisure settings and (c) capabilities, opportunities and motivations. Measures were repeated 1–18 March 2022 and 20 May–6 June 2022. Data were analyzed descriptively, within-participants analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and multiple linear regression. Results Face covering decreased over time as rules around the wearing of face coverings relaxed. Perceptions of capabilities, opportunities and motivations to wear face coverings were consistently associated with the actual wearing of face coverings, with marked decreases in motivations over time. Conclusions Decreases in motivations seem to explain best the reasons for declining levels of face covering. Further work is required to develop interventions to change people's motivations and promote the wearing of face coverings, should they be required in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the operations and functionality of the public transport sector in the UK. This paper reflects on the experience of this sector through the pandemic period, and considers recommendations for any future mitigations required for either new COVID-19 waves or a different public health emergency. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were carried out with public transport experts, organisational leaders, workers and passengers in two phases: Phase 1 from January to May 2021, and Phase 2 from December 2021 to February 2022. Interviews were analysed thematically. Results: Using the 'What? So What? Now What?' reflective model, ideas are drawn out to describe (a) what changes occurred, (b) what effects these changes had on service provision as well as perceptions of risk and mitigation and (c) what lessons have been learned and how these findings can feed into pandemic preparedness for the future. Respondent reflections focussed on the importance of communication, leadership, and maintaining compliance. Conclusions: The wealth of experience gained through the COVID-19 pandemic in the public transport sector is extremely valuable. Through reflection on this experience, specific recommendations are made relating to these factors, covering: maintaining links across industry, access to information and data, understanding of mitigation effectiveness, improving messaging, challenges of behavioural mitigations, and clear lines of accountability. The recommendations made on the basis of this reflective process will help to improve public health strategy within the public transport sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Interventions to promote the wearing of face coverings if required in the future can only be developed if we know why people do or do not wear them. Study aims were, therefore, to assess public adherence to wearing face coverings to reduce transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 and to gauge why people were or were not wearing face coverings in work, public transport, and indoor leisure settings. Design: Cross‐sectional survey. Methods: 10,622 adults (25 January–6 February 2022) who were representative of the UK population were asked about their (a) wearing of face coverings in work, public transport, and leisure settings; (b) sociodemographic characteristics; and (c) perceptions of capabilities, opportunities, and motivations ("COM‐B"). Data were analysed descriptively, using within‐participants ANOVA and multiple linear regression. Results: Participants reported mostly wearing face coverings in public transport settings (>80%), but substantially less in work (<50%) and leisure (<30%) contexts. Perceptions of capabilities, opportunities, and motivations to wear face coverings were consistently associated with the actual wearing of face coverings across the three settings, but there were marked deficits in automatic motivation and social opportunity. People living in England, describing themselves as White, and men were least likely to wear face coverings. Conclusions: Interventions targeted at men, people living in England, and those describing themselves as White that focus on increasing capabilities, providing greater opportunities and boosting motivations are suggested to promote the wearing of face coverings, with particular focus on addressing automatic motivation and social opportunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Age-standardized mortality rates for taxi drivers, chauffeurs, bus and coach drivers show that public transport workers were at high risk at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, the public transport sector was required to continue services throughout the pandemic. Objectives This paper aims to develop a better understanding of the experiences of organizational leaders and workers within the UK public transport sector (bus, rail, and tram). Specifically, it aims to explore the perceived balance of risk and mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, report on their perceptions of safety in public transport during the pandemic and in the future, and consider how these perceptions and changes impact on long-term worker health and wellbeing. Methods This study formed part of a larger stakeholder engagement with the public transport sector. Organizational leaders and workers were recruited (n = 18) and semi-structured interviews carried out between January and May 2021. Data were analysed thematically. Results Overarching and subthemes were identified. Themes relating to perceptions and impacts of risk of COVID-19 for employees included: acceptability of risk for workers, perceptions of risk mitigation effectiveness, changes to working practices and their impact on morale and wellbeing, issues with compliance to mitigations such as social distancing and face coverings in passenger and co-worker groups alongside a lack of power to challenge behaviour effectively, and the roles of leadership and messaging. Themes related to long-lasting impacts of COVID-19 on working practices and effects on health and wellbeing included: continuing mitigations, impact of increasing passenger numbers, impact of vaccination programme, and impact of changes to business structure. Conclusions Most public transport employees reported feeling safe, related to the extent to which their role was public-facing. However, data were collected during a time of very low passenger numbers. Current mitigation measures were thought effective in reducing the risk of viral transmission, although measures may have a detrimental effect on worker morale and wellbeing. Issues relating to non-compliance with guidance and 'in-group' behaviour were identified. Impacts on wider business sustainability and individual wellbeing of staff should be considered when developing responses to any future pandemics. Recommendations are made for prioritizing employee engagement with colleagues, and the importance of strong leadership and clear messaging in promoting adherence to behavioural mitigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High conscientiousness is associated with better health and longer life. This relationship is partly accounted for by the performance of health behaviours. The current study aimed to investigate whether conscientiousness was associated with adherence to national health behaviour guidelines as an indicator of healthy lifestyle. A cross-sectional design was used, where participants (N= 886) completed online questionnaires to assess conscientiousness and the facets of conscientiousness (order, virtue, traditionalism, self-control, responsibility, industriousness) and the performance of four health behaviours (fruit and vegetable consumption, alcohol intake, smoking, and physical activity). An index was calculated to combine the health behaviours. Conscientiousness and all its facets significantly predicted the health behaviour guideline index. In comparing high and low conscientious sub-groups, the low conscientious group had lower levels of adherence to all health behaviours guidelines measured. Strikingly, the number of high conscientious participants meeting all health behaviour guidelines was nearly twice the number of low conscientious participants meeting all guidelines. Conscientiousness is associated with adherence to multiple national health behaviour guidelines. Therefore, the positive associations between conscientiousness and health/longevity may be accounted for, in part, by the adoption of a healthy lifestyle across multiple health domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research sought to validate the Chernyshenko Conscientiousness Scales (CCS), a novel measure designed to assess six facets of conscientiousness. Data from 7,569 U.S. participants and 649 U.K. participants were analyzed to assess the internal reliability and factorial structure of the scales. Test–retest reliability, convergent and divergent validity, and criterion-related validity were also evaluated using a separate U.K. sample (n = 118; n = 80 for test–retest). The results showed that those items designed to measure industriousness, order, self-control, traditionalism, and virtue were best represented by a five-factor structure, broadly consistent with the five scales. However, the content and structure of the responsibility scale requires further investigation. Overall, the CCS has the potential to be a useful alternative to the faceted measures of conscientiousness that are currently available. However, future research is required to refine a number of problematic items and to clarify which facets can be better described as interstitial dimensions between conscientiousness and other Big Five domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Higher conscientiousness ( C) predicts better health outcomes. Recent research suggests that stress may play an important role in explaining this relationship. The current study aimed to establish whether C moderates the relationship between daily hassle appraisals, daily affect, and physical symptoms. Design and Methods A daily diary design was used, where participants ( N = 103) completed a baseline measure of C followed by a 14-day daily diary, providing daily details of hassles (primary and secondary appraisals) experienced as well as positive and negative affect and physical symptoms. Results Hierarchical linear modelling revealed that Total C (as well as two facets of C: Order and Industriousness) moderated the relationship between stress appraisals and positive affect. Specifically, the negative association between the daily appraisal of hassles as stressful (i.e., where perceived demands outweighed perceived resources) and positive affect was stronger for lower and average levels of C, Order, and Industriousness. No significant moderated effects were found for negative affect or physical symptoms. The Order facet was also found to be an important factor predicting attrition. Conclusions The current study provided evidence that C and two of its facets can moderate the relationship between hassle appraisal and positive affect. C may exert part of its influence on health by modifying the effects of daily stressors. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Conscientiousness has a significant positive effect on longevity and health status. While the performance of health behaviours may partially account for this relationship, evidence suggests that it does not fully mediate the effect. Research has begun to look at stress as a possible additional explanatory variable, and there is evidence that Conscientiousness moderates the relationship between stress and health behaviours. What does this study add? Shows that Conscientiousness and two of its facets ( Order and Industriousness) moderate the relationship between hassle appraisal and positive affect., Highlights the importance of studying lower order facets of personality in health research., Suggests that Conscientiousness may exert part of its influence on health by modifying the effects of daily stressors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suicide is a global health issue accounting for at least 800,000 deaths per annum. Numerous models have been proposed that differ in their emphasis on the role of psychological, social, psychiatric and neurobiological factors in explaining suicide risk. Central to many models is a stress-diathesis component which states that suicidal behavior is the result of an interaction between acutely stressful events and a susceptibility to suicidal behavior (a diathesis). This article presents an overview of studies that demonstrate that stress and dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity, as measured by cortisol levels, are important additional risk factors for suicide. Evidence for other putative stress-related suicide risk factors including childhood trauma, impaired executive function, impulsivity and disrupted sleep are considered together with the impact of family history of suicide, perinatal and epigenetic influences on suicide risk., (© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)